Car Crashes and Strawberry IceCreams
by Eternal immortality
Summary: Jesse is still dead. For the time being. And Suze is just, well Suze. But then she finds a way to get rid of her 'gift' (a.k.a powers) and a way how to get Jesse his life back. In the beginning, it seems like the perfect idea. But is it really? dum dum du
1. A ridicculous plan

Car Crashes and Strawberry Ice-Creams

Hey, I kinda had to change the story, because I got an idea, _then _read Twilight and realised Jesse was alive. So erm... Jesse is still dead. For the time being.

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Meg Cabot**

CHAPTER 1

A RIDICCULOUS PLAN

"But father Dom-" I said.

"No buts! It can NOT be done, Susannah!"

"Actually," I said, "It can. See, I found this thing, but it says that you have to give up your mediator powers for it and-"

"For heavens' sake Susannah! What am I telling you? Give up your mediator powers? It's ridiculous! I seriously think-"

"Ridiculous?" I shrieked. Well, you would have been shrieking too, if you had suddenly come up with this ingenious plan, only to find out later, that it was thought of as ridiculous. "What is so ridiculous about it? I'm completely willing to give up my powers, and Jesse says-" Father Dom sighed.

"Susannah," he said "Jesse died one hundred and fifty years ago." I looked blankly at Father Dom.

"Yeah." I said. "And your point is?" Father Dom sighed.

"He doesn't _belong_ here, Susannah. He belongs in heaven, or she should be starting a new life, or whatever he should be doing after he died. It's just wrong. I- I will _not_ allow it!" A single tear leaked, and tricked down my cheek. I brushed it away.

"Father Dom" I said, my voice breaking. "Don't you _know?_" Oh great. I was _crying_. _Perfect_.

"Know what Susannah?" Father Dominic said, in a slightly gentler voice.

"What it's like." Father Dominic just looked confused. "To be in love." I finished for him. Father Dominic looked at me angrily.

"I am _not_ falling for that Susannah! No! I've told you once, I will not tell you again, NO! I am NOT letting you do this." Another tear fell down my cheek, and then another. But I didn't make so much of an effort to wipe them away this time.

"Fine." I whispered. I turned around and ran out of his office.

"Susannah!" I heard him call after me. "Susannah, wait!"

I sat up with a groan. Sand coated me everywhere. As I was brushing it off, I flinched. I seemed to be sun-burnt quite badly. After the argument with father Dominic, instead of going back to class, I ended up going to the beach.

I have a secret place there, that no one goes to. It's far too rocky. Well, in the beginning it is. After it kind of evens out, and then there's this little beachy place... it's really beautiful. Especially when the sun is setting, and the waves are crashing against the rocks...

Normally, I would have stayed and watched the sun set, but today I wasn't in the mood. I quickly brushed off all the sand, ignoring the pain that shot through me as I did so, and stood up, gathering all the things that had spilled out of my book bag, as I had flung it down in my fury. I shook the sand out of my hair as best as possible, and started to make my way back, over the rocks.

Father Dominic's' and mines' argument kept playing over in my head.

"Never!" Father Dom's voice resounded in my head. "You don't understand-"

"I understand a lot more than you think." I snarled back at him.

"No you don't! You don't understand how dangerous this is! I will not allow it! I'm telling you Susannah-"

A single tear fell down my cheek, as I was brushing it away, I slipped and banged my elbow on a particularly sharp rock. Instantly blood started to flow from the wound. I blinked down at the blood, now trickling down my arm, and onto rocks. Great. Another scar. Just what I needed. But I didn't care that much then. I didn't even feel the pain. I just picked myself up, and went on, in the direction of the beach.

Mom would probably kill me for being late for dinner.


	2. Untitled

Sorry, I couldn't find a chappy name. :(

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Meg Cabot**

CHAPTER 2

UNTITLED

"Where have you been!" My mom and Andy yelled at me when I got back. Wow. I should

get a prize for physic-y-ness. I told you she'd be mad. What I didn't get was why Andy was so mad. I blinked at him. I was kind of surprised he cared. I shrugged. "Out."

"Alone?" My mom persisted.

"No. CeeCee and Adam were there too." I said.

"Liar." I turned to see Dopey standing behind my mom. "Super-nerd CeeCee was just on the phone asking for you, and asking why you didn't come back to class after your meeting with Father D-"

He broke off in mid sentence, thanks to my punching him in the jaw with as much force as I could muster. He stumbled back, gasping, and clutching his eye. I wondered what was wrong. I had punched him in the jaw, not in the _eye_. Andy and mom were watching him as surprizedly as I was. Then I saw a trickle of blood run down from his eyebrow. I looked down at my hand, which was still balled up in a fist. Oops. I had forgotten about my spiky bracelet. it must have hit him. Served him right. My mom realised at the same time as me, and rushed at him, but he beat her off, threw me a dirty look, and ran off, in the direction of his room. Andy rounded on me.

"That's it." he said. I gulped, wondering how many weeks I'd be grounded for. "I'm really going to have to talk to him. I don't know what's gotten into him. He's been like this for a week now. Don't worry, I'll tell him to "lay offa" you." Whoa. I wondered what had gotten into Andy.

"W-what?" I asked. Andy smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him. He really shouldn't be calling people names. Especially when they happen to be his sisters' best friend." I stared at Andy. Sister? What sister? Dopey has a sister? How come I never knew? Then I realised he was talking about _me. Why _can't anyone keep this straight?

"Oh, erm, right." I said, relived I wasn't grounded. "Thanks." Andy smiled at me.

"No problem honey." Honey? Honey? What was going on? I forced a smile, and ran upstairs as fast as I could, before he changed his mind about not grounding me, or calling me any more revolting names. Quickly, I dumped my book bag, and pulled out my geometry homework. I was on the third question, when Jesse, who had lowered his book and had been watching me since I had barged in, interrupted me.

"Querida, I hope you've realised that you're bleeding." I looked up at him surprised.

"uh, what?" I asked, not intelligently.

"Your elbow." He said, nodding in the direction he was looking in. Oh, right. My _elbow._ I had pretty much forgotten about that. Now I looked down at it, and saw to my horror that blood was still flowing quite freely from it. The cut seemed to be pretty deep if blood was still flowing. I looked on the floor. Smallish stains were everywhere, ruining the carpet. "Oh no." I said, mostly to myself. I knew it would take me a _really _long time to get those stains out of the carpet.

"Susannah, are you okay?" I heard the concern in Jesse's voice.

"Er... I might have to go wash this off." I said, making my way to the bathroom. I wasn't aware that Jesse had followed me, until I heard him behind me, looking through what he thought was the medicine cabinet. "Jesse! Don't look in there!" I said quickly. Too late. I saw him turn red, (was that even possible? I mean, he was a ghost-) and quickly shut it.

"I was – erm – looking for – erm – " He looked mighty uncomfortable.

"Band-aids?" I offered.

"Erm, yeah. Band-aids. Sorry." He mumbled. I tried not to look too embarrassed, but it was hard. It's kind of hard _not_ to be embarrassed, when the guy you're in love with, is just trying to help you, and instead of finding band-aids stumbles upon tampons.

"That's okay," I said cheerfully. Hey, it was an accident. And he looked pretty bad about it. What was I supposed to do anyways? Yell at him? "The band aids are in there." I said, pointing to a different cupboard. Jesse crossed over, to the right cupboard this time, and took out the band-aids, and mercurochrome.

"Oh no you don't." I said, as soon as I saw the mercurochrome. "I hate that stuff. Do not come near me or else I will seriously-" Jesse grabbed me by the wrist, to prevent me from going anywhere.

"This might hurt a little, but it would be extremely un-pleasant if it got infected. Just hold still and it will be okay."

I so wasn't falling for that. I tried to twist away, but he grabbed my other wrist and pulled me towards him. I looked up at him. He really was the cutest guy in the history of cute guys. Our heads were coming closer, closer... Suddenly, I shrieked. This was because, instead of kissing me, as I'd hoped, Jesse had dabbed my elbow with that mercurochrome stuff. I had so not been expecting it. And I'm telling you, it HURT.

I bit my lip, so not to yell out in pain again, but tears formed in my eyes, spilling out, onto my cheeks. Jesse, seeing this, reached out and wiped my tears away, tucking a stray hair behind my ear as he did so. I looked up at him, teary eyed. It was not fair. _Why_ did he have to be so good looking? He reached out and cupped my face in his hands. If only he would kiss me now, I thought. Jesse smiled, as if he had read my mind, then leaned down and kissed me.

I don't know how long the kiss was, but let me tell you, it was way too short. During those few seconds of bliss, I forgot completely about father Dom and my elbow and all the homework I had due for tomorrow, and everything else I had been worrying about. But they came back in full force, when Jesse broke our kiss.

"Querida." He whispered, cupping my face in his hands. I looked up at him, then realised it made me go cross eyed, and looked at the floor. He gently took my chin in his hand and made me look at him. He gazed into my eyes for about 6 breathtaking seconds, then dropped my gaze. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"That's okay," I said automatically, blushing.

"Erm, right. Band-aids." Jesse said. Screw the band-aids, I thought. Why won't you kiss me again!

"Screw the band-aids, huh?" I blushed. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"How did you do that?" I asked. Then I gasped. "You can't just go around reading peoples' mind!" Jesse's grin grew broader.

"Ooh. Apparently, I'm a good kisser." I blushed deeper. Jesse smiled at me. "Really?" He asked.

"Well," I said, playfully. "I don't know... I can't really remember." He grinned again, placing his hands on my waist, and pulling me towards him.

"Will this help you remember?" He asked in whisper, before kissing me again.


	3. Second Thoughts

**Thanks people who reviewed:)**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Meg Cabot**

CHAPTER 3

SECOND THOUGHTS

I don't know how long Jesse and mines' kissing session lasted, but from the look of it, quite long, since the next thing I knew, Dopey was hammering on my bathroom door – _when had I given him permission to enter my room? – _asking what our Spanish homework was. Startled, I broke away from Jesse.

"Suze? Yo Suze, you listening?" I opened the door.

"_What?" _I asked, irritated.

"What's – our – Spanish – homework?" Dopey asked slowly, as if I was dim.

"Uh, Dop- I mean, Brad- I don't even takeSpanish." Dopey looked at me confusedly.

"Oh- right." He said, after a couple seconds pause. "Well, whatever then. Just wanted to know what '¿Qué hace usted este sábado?' meant."

"What are you doing this Saturday." I heard a voice behind me say. I didn't bother turning around, I knew it was Jesse.

"Uh yeah, what are you doing this Saturday." Dopey looked at me strangely and blushed. Seriously. He _blushed._ What was going on? First Andy, then this? I'm telling you. My family – _step_ family – is _weird._

"Uh, nothing, why?" I rolled my eyes.

"No- I mean, Qué hace usted este sábado, yeah? It means, what are you doing this Saturday. And you're pronouncing it wrong. It's not 'hase' its 'Hah-say'". Dopey looked confused, and irritated at the same time. On any other guy, it would have looked cute, but hello? This was _Dopey_ we were talking about.

"Since when do _you _know Spanish?" Oops.

"Erm, I don't." I said, quickly. It was obvious that he didn't believe me, but he shut up.

"Whatever, thanks."

"That was close." I said, as the door closed. I couldn't help but be mad at Dopey for having interrupted Jesse and mines' "special" moment. I crossed over to the window. The sun had already set, and the night sky was dusted with stars. Jesse came and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned my head back, onto his chest. We stood there like that for about five whole minutes. It was a nice feeling, and I never wanted it to end. But of course, that was impossible. Thanks to Jesse.

"Did you ask Father Dominic?"

"Yeah." I gazed sadly at the sea. "He wasn't happy with me at all. He started yelling at me and stuff. Saying this "wasn't why we were assigned this "gift." ", and how "It's not the way it should be done, that it's not-" " I broke off, incapable of going on.

"That it's not what?" Jesse asked. I shrugged, unable to explain. Jesse seemed to understand, however. "What if I go talk to him?" Jesse asked softly after a few minutes. I turned to look at him.

"But-" I said. I mean, Jesse hates visiting Father Dominic. Not that he has anything against Father Dominic. No, it's more like Father Dom having something against Jesse. Basically, he's against the whole Jesse-living-in-my-bedroom-thing. I mean, he _is _a priest. But Jesse and I get along fine. More than fine actually, as you might have noticed. I've mentioned this to father Dom, but you know what he's like. He simply won't _listen._ Especially when it comes to Jesse.

"He might give me a chance, Susannah." Jesse said. "You never know. And yes, I admit, the chances are not very big, but it's still a chance." I looked up at Jesse.

"I hate to ask this Jesse, but, are you _really really really_ sure you want this?" Jesse cupped my face in his hands and kissed me.

"You ask me that one more time, and you won't wake up the following morning, querida." He said, imitating that guy in Oceans eleven. CeeCee and I had been watching it, and he had invited himself along. Not that I'd minded. "The question is, are _you_?" I looked up at him as if he was insane. Actually, for a moment then, I think he was.

"Jesse, are you nuts?" Jesse grinned, leaning down to kiss me again.

"SUZE!" Dopey yelled up the stairs. "Phone!"

Urg! I thought. Why do you have such bad timing? I sighed, and with an apologetically look at Jesse, grabbed the extension next to my bed-side table, sinking down onto my bed. "Hello?" I said.

"Hey, girlfriend!" I heard Cee Cee yell through the phone at me.

"Oh," I said. "Hey Cee."

"Just checking if you're still up for it tomorrow." I looked at blankly at the wall opposite me.

"Still up for what?" I asked confusedly.

"Very funny Simon. Don't tell me you forgot."

"Er... sorry Cee, but erm... I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The elections! For Vice President! Simon how many times do I have to remind you? Just stop thinking about your precious _Jesse _for one minute okay? _Man _if I ever get to meet that guy I will so kill him. All he does is distract you from everything that matters!"

CeeCee yelled at me through Adam's cell phone. Too loudly. I saw Jesse's eyebrows go up. Way up. Busted.

"Er... CeeCee?" I said, not looking at Jesse any longer. "I'm sorry. But I've told you, I don't _want _to be VP." There was a silence on the other end of the phone. Then,

"Whatever Suze. I was thinking-"

She went off in a rant. I'm telling you, she doesn't – she _does not _shut up. I ignored her, and started examining my hair. Good stuff. Only three split ends so far.

"So," CeeCee concluded, "is that cool or what?"

"Yeah" I said. "Yeah, CeeCee, that's great." Finally, _finally _she said bye and hung up. I heard Jesse laugh softly and turned my head to look at him.

"_What?_" I asked him.

"I just found the part about how I apparently "distract" you-" He made quotation marks in the air with his fingers "from anything that's "important"" – He did it again- "Funny. And the fact that if she ever meets me, she's going to kill me. I mean, it would be pretty impressive killing someone who's already dead, don't you think?" Which reminded me:

"But Jesse, what if Father Dominic says no?" Jesse sat down next to me, and linked my hand with his.

"He won't. And if he does, we'll just have to do it without him." I stared at him, wondering why I hadn't thought of this before.

"Oh. Right." I leaned forward to kiss him, but he drew away.

"Not now. You have homework to do." Great. Stupid, stupid homework. Although I might as well make a start. I don't want to fall behind. But I couldn't really concentrate. I kept thinking about Jesse, and wondering. What if it went wrong? What would Jesse do, once he was alive? I'm sure once Father Dominic got over the initial shock that Jesse _was_ _alive _he would let him live in the rectory. And Jesse could take his exams and go to university. And… - this was so much more complicated than I had imagined. Jesse would live in the rectory. Therefore I wouldn't be able to see him every day.

He wouldn't be there everyday when I got back from school. He would be studying for his exams. Then he would go away, to university. And there, he'd probably find some other, more beautiful girl, with long blonde hair, and who knows how to salsa dance.

Then he would go off and graduate, and get married to her, and never want anything to do with me anymore. He'd be all like, yeah, you made me come back to life. But I didn't say I wanted to be _with_ _you. _All I wanted was my _life._ And then my heart would be broken, because it is so obvious that he's _the one _and I would grow older, and become a spinster, and have all these cats and sit home and knit, and then die a miserable death.

As I was thinking this, I happened to look at Jesse. He looked so handsomely hot and all, (as usual). I tried, but I couldn't help it. Tears formed in my eyes, and spilled out onto my cheeks for the third time today. I don't know if Jesse noticed me looking at him, or if he heard me sniffling, but he looked up from his book _Critical theory since Plato, _(he was reading it for the second time), saw me crying, and immediately shut his book.

"Querida," he said, squatting down, so he could see my face. "Querida." He said again, prying my hands from my face. "What's wrong?" But I couldn't stop crying. Only when Jesse managed to pull me over to the window seat, and wrap his arms around me, did I stop. We sat there like that for a long time. Me in his arms, my head resting on his chest, and him stroking my hair. Until, of course, Jesse had to go ruin it all. But hey, you can't blame him.

I suppose it _would _be kind of odd _not_ to ask someone - and not just someone either, but your girlfriend – why they were crying just 10 minutes ago, exactly. But what was I supposed to say? I can't give you your life Jesse, because if I do, you'll never be mine. That would be pretty selfish. So instead I went: "I don't know… nothing. It's okay." Hoping he would drop the subject. Yeah, right.

"No, it's not nothing. Querida, please tell me what's wrong." He looked so hurt, that I had to tell him.

I took a deep breath. "Well, it's just that, well…" I said, trailing off helplessly.

Jesse looked me straight in the eye.

"Well, you see the thing is when you get your life back then you'll probably be living in the rectory and studying for your exams so I'll never be able to see you only on Saturdays but then you'll probably still be studying and then you'll go away to university and it'll be far away so then I'll never see you then and there you'll meet someone else and then I'd die because Madame Zara told me about how I'm a mediator and then she told me I'd only have one love and that it would last for my whole life or for the rest of eternity and then if you go away and get married to that girl you'll meet at university, and I'll never hear from you again I'll die. You understand?" I asked looking up at him, my eyes filled with tears again.

But they dried up pretty quickly when I saw that Jesse was laughing.

"_What?"_ I asked, irritated.

"It's just that you were talking really fast and then -" He broke off, when I glared at him. "I'm sorry Querida. But didn't catch a word you said. Do you think it would be possible to breathe, once in a while?"

I went in a huff and wouldn't talk to him. Fine. I though. Be that way. Not very mature, I know, but I was pissed. Finally Jesse stopped laughing.

"I'm sorry. You were just speaking so fast and I couldn't understand a thing you were talking about…"

I still wouldn't speak to him.

"Fine." He said. Two minutes passed in total silence. Then:

"I'm sorry. Please tell me again?" He looked so sweet too, that I gave up on being mad at him.

"- And I know it sucks, but I really would miss you so much." I finished. I could tell Jesse was trying not smile. But this time I didn't mind because he leaned down, and whispered against my lips

"Querida, where did you get that idea from?" Then closed the space between our lips and kissed me. After we resurfaced after a few minutes, Jesse smiled.

"I think you have been reading too many of your romance novels."

"Jesse?" I asked after a few minutes silence, "What does 'querida' mean?"

I saw him grin. Then, "good night querida."

**(A/N: sorry, I know this chapter kinda sucks and doesn't make that much sense. Please review!)**


	4. Rachael

**Thanks for all the people who reviewed : ) **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Meg Cabot (except Rachael)**

CHAPTER 4

RACHAEL

I was woken up to hysterical sobs. Great. I sat up groggily, and clapped on the lights. A girl about my age was standing near my bed, crying her eyes out. I checked my watch. It read

5 am. I brushed all the hair out of my face and looked at this girl a little closer. I could see she was about 15 years old. She had long, curly red hair. She wore glasses, and was very pretty. She could have been a model, if she wasn't, you know. Dead. I don't know if she realised that I was looking at her, but she stopped crying, saw I was awake, and stood up shakily. I got up, crossed the room and sat myself down on the window seat. I don't think she realised that I had acknowledged her presence, since she sunk down into my desk chair again, and went right on crying. After a few minutes I got pissed.

"Hey," I said, not very nicely. She looked up.

"You- you can see me?" she asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah." I said. "Yeah, I can see you."

"But- but you're the only person who- I mean- how..?" she trailed off, helplessly. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, despite the fact that she had woken me up at five o'clock in the morning.

"Yeah, that's my job. I'm a mediator. Or a shifter, whatever you prefer. I'm supposed to help you to heaven or hell, or your new life or whatever. I'm Suze, by the way."

She smiled back. "I'm Rachael. But um… how do I get there?"

"Well, what's holding you back? From going to heaven, I mean."

She looked cross. "_I_ don't know. Aren't _you_ the one who's supposed to know?"

I sighed. "No. Well, yes, but you have to tell me what's holding you back. From going up there, I mean."

"Oh. I don't know. I mean, I think I know what's holding me back."

I nodded… "And…"

"Well, I went to see a physic once, she was pretty nice, until she told me that I'd only have one love." Ooh… this sounded interesting. "And she said it would last until the end of my days. Or-" she gulped. "For all eternity." Okay, this girl was starting to freak me out. I swallowed. Hard.

"Oh." I said. It came out strangled.

"What?" she said indignantly, eyeing me strangely.

"Nothing. It's just that – well, the same thing happened to me."

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah."

"And…?" she prompted me.

"Well, I've already met him, actually. But er… there's only one slight problem." She looked at me, as if to say "go on". "He's not really alive." She gaped at me.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry. Did he die?" I found this an extremely amusing question, considering the fact that I'd just told him he wasn't really alive. I smiled.

"Well, yeah. But it was a really long time ago." Just then, Jesse materialised next to my bed.

Rachael screamed. "Holy shit." She muttered under her breath. I smiled.

"Rachael, meet Jesse. Jesse, this is Rachael. Jesse, I was just telling Rachael about you."

"Oh?" He said, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. She was telling me about how you're erm… really nice and all." She said catching my warning glance."

Jesse relaxed. I could tell he was relieved.

"Well, then I think I'll let you two _señoritas _be." And he de-materialized.

"Is that…? Is that him?"

"Yeah," I said, grinning. "That would be him. But I don't think that's the issue here. We were talking about you?"

"Oh. Right. Well, as I was saying. The whole meeting the love of my life thing must be holding me back, because to be honest, I don't think I've ever met him. I've never even had a boyfriend yet, actually." She said, blushing. I gaped at her.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No." She looked dead serious.

"Wow." I said. "No offence," I added quickly. "It's just that, I mean, I seriously think you could be a model." She smiled, flashing pearl white teeth.

"Really?" She asked, pleased.

"Yeah." I wasn't lying either. She really was pretty.

"Thanks." Then she looked sad again. "They offered. The companies, I mean. My mom wouldn't let me. She's dead too."

"Oh." I said. "I'm really sorry."

She shrugged. "I think I've started to get used to it. There was a car crash." She swallowed.

"You don't have to tell me." I said quickly.

"No, no it's okay. I have to tell someone."

"Okay…"

"The road was slippery. It had been raining. We were going quite fast. My little brother Johnny was asleep, and my little sister Alice was screaming for some cookies. My dad was driving, yelling at her to shut up. She started crying. Mom started fussing over her, wiping away her tears and stroking her hair. My dad was trying to concentrate on the road. I saw it before anybody else. There was a huge truck, coming our way. He honked his horn, I screamed for my dad to dodge it. But it was too late. I was blinded for a second by the light. Alice was clinging onto me. I heard her scream out for my mom. Then I felt the crash. I closed me eyes. When I woke up, I was dead. I called out for my mom, but she wasn't there. I was all alone. All these paramedics were carrying my body into an ambulance. I watched as they cleared the wreck. No one survived."

I watched her wipe away the tears that had been threatening to spill. "I'm really sorry." I said, laying a hand on her shoulder. She hugged me.

"Thanks."

Now, most of the time I don't like being touched. Especially when it comes to ghosts. Excepting Jesse, of course. But this time I didn't mind that much. That was because I was beginning to find that she was a really nice person.

"Hey," I said. "Don't worry about it. I know a place you can stay, for a while, before meeting your _prince charming_." I said. She smiled a watery smile.

"Thanks." She said, hugging me again.

"No problem," I said, hugging her back. "Everything will be fine."

And for once, I was right.

**(A/N: I know this chappy is kinda short and boring, but it'll get better, promise: ) Review, please! ) **


	5. Love At First Sight

**Thanks for all the people who reviewed: )**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Meg Cabot. (Except Rachael.)**

CHAPTER 5

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

I had agreed to let Rachael stay for a couple days. She reminded me a lot of Gina in a way, my best friend from Brooklyn.

Sure, it was hard for her to adjust to being dead, but she was having a better time than the past couple of days, as she had informed me.

Although I had nearly had a coronary this morning, when I sat down at breakfast. This was because, the minute I sat down, I saw her sitting next to sleepy, chatting a mile a minute. Only she seemed pretty peeved at him.

"Hello?" She was saying, waving a hand in front of his face. "Hey, you! I'm talking to you!"

I had to kick her under the table, and signal to her to come into the kitchen, where I had to lecture her about how I know it was sad and all that she was dead, but that I was the only one who could see her. She seemed to find this pretty upsetting, but put up with it.

Finally, we were pulling into the Missions' parking lot. Where I had another unpleasant encounter. Only this time it involved Paul Slater.

He was leaning against his silver convertible BMW, waiting for me. This time, he didn't come up to me, as he would have, any other day. This was because I was heading straight towards him. He looked surprised. Normally I avoided him like the plague.

"Hey." I said, as I approached.

Rachael was looking at me funny. "Suze? What happened to Jesse? I thought _he_ was _the one_?" I made a face.

"Ew! Me and him?" I squealed disgustedly, looking in Paul's direction. "No way!"

Paul grinned. "Paul Slater, at your service," he said, sticking his hand out to Rachael.

"You can see me too?"

"Yeah. But I'm the only person with the exception of Suze here, Father Dom the head of out school, my grandfather – he made a face, and my little brother Jack."

"Paul," I said, "this is Rachael."

Paul grinned at Rachael, transfixed. She grinned back. I could tell she was falling for Paul.

"Er…" I said breaking the silence. Not because I minded Rachael falling for Paul. Far from it. But we were getting weird looks, mostly from Dopey. I suppose we _did_ look strange. I mean, Paul was grinning at an invisible person, and I was looking from him to the invisible person and back again. "Assembly starts in two minutes; I guess we should get going."

Paul looked as if he'd rather be standing there, and risking detention, just to talk to Rachael, but luckily he didn't. Rachael followed me into my line, standing next to me, completely unaware that she was standing through someone, she was that excited.

"Oh my God." She kept saying, over and over again. "I think that's him! The one and only."

"Rachael," I said quietly "You've only known him for one minute."

"So?"

Luckily assembly started then, so I didn't have to answer.

"Susannah, I'd like to see you in my office." Father Dom said, as he breezed past my locker. "_Alone_." He said, pointedly looking in Rachael's direction.

I wondered what Father Dom wanted to see me about. All I knew wasthat it wasn't good.

**(A/N: I know its really short, I'll add more as soon as possible! Please review**


	6. Agreements

CHAPTER 6

AGREEMENTS

"Ah, Susannah,"

Father Dominic said pleasantly, as I entered his office.

"Er… Hi" I said, wondering what he wanted to talk to me about.

"I understand you've told Jesse about our disagreement."

Oh. He wanted to talk about _that._ _Why_ hadn't I thought of that?

"Oh." I said. "Yeah, I have. Why?"

"Well," Father Dominic said carefully. "I've thought about it, Susannah." I sat up straighter in my chair.

"And?" I asked eagerly.

"I have to admit, it's very serious business." I sunk back into my chair. " - But I'm willing to help you."

Yes! I sprang from my chair, and rushed at him, hugging him.

"Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Oh." Father Dom said. I could tell he was embarrassed. "Dear." I laughed, and let him go, picking up my book bag, and heading for the door.

"Oh, and Susannah?" I turned to face him. "Who was that girl you were with this morning?" I looked at him strangely.

"CeeCee." I saw him smile.

"No, I meant the ghost girl."

"Oh." I felt my face heat up. "Her name's Rachael. I'll introduce you to her later. But now I gotta run, second period starts in five minutes."

He nodded, and returned to his paperwork. I stole one last glance at him, closing the door behind me; and practically flew down the hallway, where I collided, hard with someone else. Their books spilt all over the floor.

"Oh!" I said. "I'm so sorry!" I helped to pick up their books, and stood up, blushing furiously.

"Hello again, Suze."

I looked up. It was Paul. Great. Wish for a Jesse, get a Paul.

"Hey."

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Er… nothing really. Why? I thought shifter sessions were tomorrow."

Paul chuckled. "No, it's not about shifter sessions."

"Well, what then?"

"Rachael. She's staying at your place, right?"

"How did you know?" I asked, spooked.

He shrugged. "I guessed. But that's not the point. Do you think you could ask her if she mined visiting me some time today at 8pm?"

I stared at him. "What about Kelly?"

He looked uncomfortable, but grinned none the less. Oh my God. He was breaking up with Kelly to get together with a _ghost._

"Paul?" I said, seizing his shoulders and shaking him. "Paul? What has gotten into you? You're going out with the most popular, richest most beautiful, alive girl in school. And now you want to hang out with a ghost?" I shook my head.

"I don't know. I don't know. But the minute I set eyes on her - " He shook his head. "It just – I mean – she…" He trailed off. "I mean, I _knew._ I knew she was _special_. That she was different from all the other girls."

Wow. I thought. Wow, Paul Slater _is _human. But I didn't say that out loud. Instead I said,

"Sure, I'll tell her. And, guess what? Father Dom agreed!"

Paul looked confused. "Agreed to what?"

Oh that's right. I hadn't told him. Yet.

"Well," I said. "I found this thing. To get someone else's life back. It's not simple. And if it goes wrong, you die, too. But Father Dom and Jesse don't know that. I think that's the only reason why they agreed, anyway. But it's going to happen!" I squealed excitedly. "Paul. Jesse's going to get his life back!"

Paul didn't say anything. I thought he would have been furious. But he wasn't. Instead he looked at me, his eyes full of concern.

"Suze." He said. "Suze, what if it goes wrong?"

I should have been touched that Paul actually cared about me, but I wasn't. Instead, this just served to piss me off.

"But it won't!" I said.

"I hope not Suze. I hope not."

I looked up at him. I didn't know he could be so human. And so much like… well… Jesse. I suddenly felt a rush of affection for him. He could be a pain in the butt, but now he was coming through for me. I hugged him. I could tell Paul was taken aback at first, but then he hugged me back. I looked over his shoulder, to find someone surveying us with a look of disgust.

I broke away from Paul, looking at the person standing against one of the pillars. It was Jesse. I bounded over to him, and hugged him too. I was in a really good mood. Jesse was getting his life back, Paul wasn't mad at me; he was going to break up with Kelly, just to spend time with Rachael, who so obviously liked him back. Nothing could spoil my mood.

Especially not, when at lunch, CeeCee, Adam and I were discussing about how much we couldn't wait for the weekend, when we heard Kelly Prescott's voice shrieking, over the happy chatter.

"What!" we could hear her shriek. "You – You -" She broke off with a sob, and ran to the girls' room. I knew this because Rachael had followed them. Them, meaning Kelly and Debbie. She overheard their whole conversation. It went like this:

Kelly: "Oh my god. Oh my god."

Debbie: examining her hair in the mirror. "Hey, you'll get over it. I mean, he was only -"

Kelly: "An ass hole. A sexist pig. An ignorant know-it-all. I know."

Debbie: "Actually, what I meant was the hottest, richest cutest and smartest guy in the school. But whatever."

Kelly: sobs "How- how could he? How could he dump _me? _I'm president of our class! I'm the hottest girl in the whole school, and all my clothes are designer clothes! I'm the most popular girl at school! How _could_ he?"

Debbie: "Right. Fine. Stop crying, it's okay. Now you can go capture Jake's heart."

Kelly: (still sniffling) "Yeah. I suppose. I mean, I still _am_ hot."

Seriously. They went on and on like that. They really think highly of themselves.

CeeCee and I were cracked up laughing. I waved at Paul, as I saw him looking in our direction. I gave him the thumbs up sign. He just replied with a grin. I was glad we were on speaking terms. Paul could be quite sweet, when he was in love with someone else, and not trying to break you up with your boyfriend.

"So…" CeeCee said, as I took a cautious bite of my salad. Tuna. "What's with you and Jesse?"

I chewed carefully, and swallowed. "What do you mean?" I asked, trying to shrug the question off.

"When do I get to meet him?" She asked eagerly.

"Er…" I said. "Sometime soon, I promise."

She smiled excitedly, revealing a set of sparkling braces.

"I can't wait."

**(A/N: sorry it took so long to update, but I was really busy. And sorry that it sucks so much. It'll get better soon! Promise!)**

**Hey, you see the little purple/ blue button at the bottom of the screen? Push it and review:) (please) **


	7. Pirates Of The Carribean

CHAPTER SEVEN

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN

I checked my watch nervously. He was ten minutes late. What was taking him so long? Cee Cee was sitting on the blanket we had just laid down, chatting animatedly with Adam. This was supposed to be a double-date, but since CeeCee didn't have a date, and Adam over-heard our conversation, CeeCee had invited him along. I sighed, and sat down next to CeeCee, just as I spotted a familiar figure making his way towards us. It was all I could do, not to fling myself at him, as he approached. Instead, I settled for smiling calmly as he came our way. I brushed the sand off my pants, as I stood up.

"Hey."

Jesse looked nervous, but managed a smile. "Hey."

I turned around to face CeeCee and Adam, who were both gaping up at Jesse. CeeCee was the one who reacted first.

"Hi. I'm CeeCee. My real name is Cecile, but everyone calls me CeeCee."

I felt Jesse relax, next to me.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jesse."

CeeCee grinned.

"This is Adam," she said, gesturing to Adam, who was still sitting there, looking from Jesse to me and back again. Adam stood up quickly.

"Sorry. Hey. Yeah, I'm Adam." He rushed.

Jesse grinned. "Jesse."

There was an awkward silence, where everyone just sort of looked at each other, not knowing where to start. I checked my watch again.

"The movie's starting in twenty minutes. We might want to get going."

This brought everyone's attention.

"What exactly is this movie we're watching?" Jesse asked me in a whisper.

"Pirates of the Caribbean. It's supposed to be very good." I whispered back.

"What is it about?"

"Wait and see." I teased, playfully.

In front of us, CeeCee and Adam were having an argument about God knows what. Nowadays, they are always picking fights.

"I bet it won't beat _the god father_."

"Everything beats the god father." I said, slightly disgusted. I mean, I love Jesse, but _how_ can he like that movie?

"Now that," Jesse said, "is simply not true."

"You" I said "have never seen _pretty women_ or _save the last dance_."

"And you," Jesse accused "have never seen _Jaws_."

"Actually, I have. And may I point out that it's extremely boring?"

By this time, we had reached the cinema, and I had gone into a huff, ignoring Jesse. But it all seemed to melt away, when Jesse put his arm around me, as the lights started to dim. Soon I was drifting away, enthralled by the story.

"Thanks for meeting my friends today." I said, reluctant for him to go.

"It was okay. They seem nice."

I smiled. I was glad he liked them. I looked up at him. He was so sweet. I couldn't believe he was going out with me. _Me._ _Susannah Simon._ I saw a grin creep over Jesse's lips. Then I realised I had been in Jesse world, for about five minutes. I blushed. Jesse raised his eyebrows, playfully.

"Sorry." I said, automatically.

"For what?"

But I didn't have a chance to answer. This was on account of how Jesse's lips suddenly covered mine, in an earth-shattering kiss. I kissed him back, shyly at first, and felt him deepen the kiss. I slid my hands behind his neck, bringing his face closer to mine, and felt his hands move up and down my back, sending shivers down my spine. I ran my fingers through his hair, and felt him deepen the kiss even more. At one point, I think my head exploded. All I could think of were Jesse's lips on mine, and how right it felt. We broke away, and I felt the cold night air rush to my lips, where Jesse's had been.

"I think I should better get going," I said, breathing hard.

I felt Jesse's warm breath against my lips.

"Yeah. That'd be a good idea." His voice sounded raw.

I felt Jesse's reluctance of letting me go.

"I'll call you."

I whispered, kissing him softly on the lips.

"Good night, querida."

He said, before bending down and kissing me again.

I smiled up at him.

"Good night Jesse."

**(A/N: I know this chappy was short and stupid. It'll get better, promise. Please review! )**


	8. Saturday

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed:) **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Meg Cabot. (Except Rachael, I suppose.) **

CHAPTER 8

SATURDAY

"- And then he kissed me!"

Rachael finished enthusiastically, blushing. She had just come back from her "date" with Paul. She had been visiting him quite frequently, in these past two weeks. Her face was flushed with excitement, which was quite a feat, considering she was a ghost and all.

"Really? Rachael, that's great!"

I squealed, hugging her. My trig homework lay forgotten, as we talked about her "date" with Paul, and what it could mean. Somehow the subject changed to me and Jesse, and I told her about the day before.

"Ohmigod!" she giggled. "I knew you two were perfect for each other! You're so lucky to have him Suze! Not that I'm envious! No way, I have Paul, but you know, there's always the chance that he'll dump me for someone, who's you know… alive."

She looked miserable.

I on the other hand, got an idea.

"Rachael…" I started, carefully.

She wiped a tear away, and looked up at me.

"Yeah?"

"Rachael, if you get Paul to like you enough, I think he might just consider getting you your life back. There won't be anyone to know the difference. You told me you had no relatives, and the guy involved in the car crash died too… You'd have a chance…"

Rachael's tears cleared up instantly.

"You think… you think Paul would do that for me?"

I shrugged.

"Rachael, he dumped the prettiest, most popular girl in the school to hang around with you. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing; it's extremely cool, and so not Paul-like. You must be pretty important to Paul; he would never even have _considered_ that, ever, before he met you."

"R-really?"

Rachael hiccupped.

I grinned at her.

"You have a pretty big chance. When was the next time you were going to meet him?"

"Oh. Tomorrow. He asked me to stop by. But really, what fun can you have with someone who's dead? I mean, you can't go to the movies, you can't-"

She broke off with a sob.

"That's exactly what you have to let him know, Rachael. I'm not promising anything, but I'm pretty sure Paul has a major crush on you."

Rachael smiled.

"I don't know what I will do if he isn't "the one"." She said sighing.

"I'm pretty sure he is already."

She smiled gratefully.

"I hope so."

"I think Paul hopes so too. He told me, you know."

"He told you? He told me I was _the one_ for him?"

Rachael seemed to be on the verge of exploding she seemed so happy.

"Not using those exact words, but it came pretty close."

She hugged me.

"Thanks for being suck a great friend Suze."

I was about to answer, when the phone rang. I picked it up, wondering who it was.

"Hello?"

"Susannah."

It was Jesse.

"Oh." I said. "Hey Jesse."

Rachael raised her eyebrows expectantly, and de-materialised. I wish she would stop making such a fuss about Jesse and me. I mean, yeah we're going out, but it's not like we're engaged or anything.

"Listen, I was wondering… what are you doing on Friday?"

My heart sank. I had already promised CeeCee I'd be there to help her out at her cousin's birthday party.

"Oh." I said.

"I kinda already made plans. Sorry."

"Oh. Okay."

I could hear the disappointment in Jesse's voice.

"I'm really sorry. I promised CeeCee to help her out at her cousin's birthday party."

"That's fine. What about Saturday?"

I smiled. "Saturday's fine. What time are you picking me up?"

"How about eight?"

"Eight's great."

I said, still grinning.

"So…"

Jesse started, but he was interrupted by Dopey, who was yelling up the stairs at me.

"SUZE!" He hollered. "DINNER!"

I sighed.

"I'm sorry Jesse. I gotta go. But listen, I'll see you at Saturday, right?"

I could hear Jesse laugh softly on the other end of the line.

"Of course. See you then, _querida_."

I hung up dazedly, a slow grin creeping over my face.

"SUZE!"

I sighed again.

"Coming!"

**(A/N: I felt un-inspired, but next chapter will be way more interesting! Even if I say so myself. Please review!) **


	9. IT'S JUST THAT THE GUY YOU LIKE ACTUALLY...

**(A/N: hey, sorry it took so long to update. But now I have. Thanks for the reviews! You made me feel special. ) Hope you like it!) **

CHAPTER 9

IT'S JUST THAT THE GUY YOU LIKE ACTUALLY LIKES YOU BACK.

"- Happy Birthday dear Tara, Happy Birthday to you!"

We finished singing. Tara closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candles. We all clapped, and her mom started cutting the cake.

CeeCee and I wandered off, as people started milling around, clamouring for cake. CeeCee was trying to lose weight anyways, and I was supposed to help her. Although I don't have the faintest idea how. What am I supposed to do? Attack her if she even _touches_ a piece of chocolate cake? Well, maybe, but whatever.

CeeCee sighed.

"How am I _ever_ going to get Adam to like me Suze? You're so lucky. About you and Jesse I mean. Not that I'm jealous of Jesse."

She said quickly, sending me an apologetic look.

"It's just that the guy you like seems so _nice _and he actually likes you back."

I smiled, remembering Jesse and mine's first kiss.

"We've not always worked out, you know."

I told her, remembering the time when he was still a ghost.

"He always seemed to think that I was wrong for him. Not in a bad way, but that I seemed to deserve someone better."

"Like Paul?" CeeCee snorted.

"Well, actually, yes."

"_Paul? _Jesse thought _Paul_ seemed better for you? _Jesse_ thought _Paul_ was better than _him?_" CeeCee asked, incredulously.

"Yes CeeCee, now shut up about it please."

But CeeCee wouldn't stop. Not until she saw Adam making his way towards us.

"Okay, BREATHE CeeCee." I said, as I watched her face turn redder and redder.

"Why is CeeCee not breathing?" Adam asked, as he came to stand next to CeeCee.

I watched her turn even redder.

"Cee, are you okay? You look like you're about to pass out." Adam said.

"I'm fine." She stumbled, and he caught her elbow.

"Whoa, watch it. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Fine."

Just then my cell phone beeped (yes, finally I had gotten one), so I couldn't follow the rest of their conversation.

"Hello?" I said, wondering who it was. The only person who ever called me on my cell was CeeCee, and she was right here.

"Susannah."

Jesse.

"Hey Jesse. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why?"

"Just wondering why you were phoning me."

"Do I need a reason?"

I smiled.

"I guess not."

I watched as Tara played pass the parcel.

"So…" Jesse said.

The music stopped. A little boy opened the parcel excitedly, and fished out two lollipops. He grinned happily, unwrapped what looked like a strawberry flavoured one, and stuck it in his mouth.

I heard Jesse laugh on the other end of the phone.

"What?"

I asked indignantly.

"It's true!"

"Sorry Querida. It just-"

He broke off laughing. I went off in a huff, and watched as a girl with black pigtails tore the paper off, and happily started on a pack of gummy bears.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

He said.

"I won't make fun of you anymore. That better?"

He sounded sorry too, so forgave him. How could I not? I mean, this is Jesse we're talking about.

I watched as the song ended, and a freckled faced boy, with ginger hair carefully opened the parcel, his eyes closed, wishing for something. He opened his eyes, and his face lit up. A red fire engine truck lay in his lap.

The game went on, and finally Tara won a set of colouring pencils and a stuffed toy.

I looked around and saw that CeeCee and Adam had gotten into a fight. CeeCee's face was red from yelling, and Adam's hands were balled into fists. This was not good.

"Er listen Jesse, I gotta go. Sorry. But I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Jesse sounded disappointed.

"I'm really sorry. But it's kinda like an emergency. See you tomorrow. Okay, Bye!"

I hung up, stuffed my cell phone into the back pocket of my jeans and made my way quickly over to CeeCee and Adam. By this time CeeCee was in tears and Adam looked really pissed off, although he was trying to cheer her up. I was nearly standing behind them, when Adam sat down next to CeeCee, and slipped his arm around her shoulders, desperately trying to console her. At this point I turned on my heel and started to walk away. I knew CeeCee had an immense crush on Adam, and Adam had confessed to me that he really liked CeeCee, so I thought it might be a good idea to leave them alone and let them sort this one out by themselves.

I wandered around, not knowing what to do, when suddenly Tara ran up to me, shrieking:

"That's her! That's CeeCee's best friend! She's amazing!"

Then to me:

"Suze, Suze, come play Marco Polo with us!"

Which is how, 10 minutes later I ended up blindfolded, with all these little kids screaming "POLO! POLO!" at me. _Finally_ I caught one – the little boy who won the fire engine truck – and I was able to sit down and watch them happily play stuck in the mud. By this time it was already 5, and mothers were coming to pick up their children.

I wandered over to where Adam and CeeCee were sitting and sank down in the grass next to them. CeeCee looked considerably happier than the last time I saw her, and Adam, I noticed kept looking over at her to see if she was all right. They really are destined for each other. I wondered how long it would take them to realise that they liked each other back.

Just as I was thinking that Adam spoke up:

"Hey, Cee, What are you doing tomorrow? 'Coz, you know Suze'll be going out with that Jesse guy, and I was thinking, you know, if maybe you wanted to do something?"

To say CeeCee looked surprised was a massive understatement. Her whole face lit up and she smiled, revealing a set of sparkling braces.

"Sure!"

Adam grinned back.

"Seven all right?"

**(A/N: I know what's going to happen in the next chapter, so don't worry! I just have to finish my French homework and do some maths and then I'll have time to update! Please review!)**


	10. PWWHOFK

**(A/N: thanks for all the reviews! ) You guys rock!)**

CHAPTER 10

PWWHOFK?

"Hello?"

I said into the phone.

"Hey. Suze?"

I groaned inwardly.

"What is it Paul?"

"Um... well, I have a slight… _issue _here."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"Well, um you see it has to do with…"

"Rachael?"

"Yeah. We got into a fight and - I don't know. Is she with you?"

I looked over to where Rachael was sitting. She was looking sadly down at my bedspread and fingering it as if in deep thought. She didn't seem to have a clue that I was talking to her boyfriend – if I may call him that.

"Um… yeah. Do you want to talk to her?"

"No. No it's okay. But could you tell her to be at the pwwhofk in 10 minutes?"

"The _what?_"

"The pwwhofk. She'll know what I mean."

"If you say so."

"Thanks."

"Okay."

"No really, I mean it. Thanks."

"Bye Paul."

I hung up, and felt Rachael's eyes on me.

"Was that Paul?"

"Er… yeah. He said that he wanted to see you in 10 minutes at the pw. The pwwha-"

"The ppwhofk?"

She asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Yeah that's it. What does that mean anyway?"

But Rachael just smiled secretly, and disappeared. Ghosts. Seriously. Don't ever rely on them. Unless they are Jesse. I've always been able to trust Jesse. Just as I was thinking this the phone rang again. Three guesses to who it was.

"Hey Jesse."

"How did you know it was me? Oh, wait Caller ID or something, right?"

I laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes."

I smiled, thinking about how lucky I was that he was my boyfriend.

"So… what's up?"

I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Well, something's come up. I'm sorry. But would it be okay to move our "date" up till 11?"

Was he crazy? I know he knows that my mom would so not approve.

"Um…"

I said.

"I'm not so sure my mom would let me. I mean, 11pm is kinda late, don't you think?"

I heard him chuckle on the other side of the phone.

"What?"

"Querida, I meant 11 in the _morning_."

Oh.

"Oh. Right. Okay. Well, um sure."

I heard him sigh with relief.

"But um."

I said

"Where are we going?"

I could almost see him smile on the other side of the phone.

"Wait and see querida."

I smiled.

"Okay. Pick me up at 11?"

"Deal."

I was about to hang up when

"I can't wait."

"Me neither. Bye Jesse."

"Bye querida."

**(A/N: I'll try update ASAP. Promise.)**


	11. SWEET SURPRISES

**(A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I loved them. Hope you like the chappy, I sacrificed revising for my biology test for you all!)**

**(Thought you out to know: I think I failed my biology test. I changed the chappy a bit, if you haven't read it yet, enjoy!)**

CHAPTER 11

SWEET SURPRISES

"SUZE!"

Dopey bellowed up the stairs.

Shit! I hadn't even gotten the time to do my hair up properly. Oh well, I'd have to leave it at that. I ran down the stairs. But I was in such a hurry that I tripped, tripped all the way down the stairs. I would have fallen flat on my face and I'm sure I would have broken my wrist or something if Jesse hadn't caught me before I could do myself any serious harm.

"Whoa. Are you all right?"

I collapsed against his chest and tried to regain my calm. I grabbed his arm to steady myself, and tried to stand up right. Luckily I was all right.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks."

I said.

I wanted to reach up and kiss him, but I restrained myself. My mom was watching the little drama enfold in front of her with a frown on her face. She's told me many times already: Jesse's a great guy but doesn't she think that he's a bit old for me?

I took a step back, and brushed my hair out of my face.

"Sorry."

I mumbled.

My mom smiled at me a little then turned towards Jesse.

"I suppose you two should better get going. It's such a nice surprise Jesse."

Jesse looked slightly taken aback, but smiled none the less.

"Um… okay. You all set?"

I looked down at myself.

"Yeah. I suppose."

I waved bye to my mom, pointedly ignoring Dopey who was wetting himself laughing about that whole thing with me tripping down the stairs. Apparently it was "frikking hilarious."

Anyway, I got in the car and settled for a quite long car ride.

"Where are we going Jesse?"

I asked curiously.

He just grinned in response. I hate it when he does that. Not because he looks ugly when he does that, Jesse never looks bad. In fact, he always looks really hot.

"You'll see."

"Jess-see-eee" I whined.

But he wouldn't tell me.

Fine, I thought. Be that way. I sank down in my chair and sulked, wondering where we were going, and pissed because he wouldn't tell me.

Finally we got there. But I already knew where we were heading. I had already seen four 6-flags boards up, indicating the way.

"Oh my God!"

I squealed.

Jesse grinned at me.

"Oh my God Jesse! How did you know I've been dying to go to 6-flags since like, for ever?"

"Step brothers can be very useful."

Was his answer.

"You asked Doc? Aw, that's so sweet of him."

"Well, no it wasn't really David."

"Sleepy? Well, that's still pretty nice of him."

"Not Jake either."

"Well then who? Dopey?"

I saw a small smile appear on his face.

"_Dopey?" _

I asked, again, this time disgustedly.

"Since when are you on speaking terms with Dopey?"

"Ever since I know him, actually. Really know him, I mean. Since I'm alive, anyway. I'm tutoring him in Spanish."

Oh.

"Really? Well that's cool, I guess. He really needs the help he can get."

Jesse looked relieved. I suppose he was expecting me to be mad at him. But really, how could I be mad at him when he was looking at me with those really really dark brown eyes of his. He was simply the best looking guy alive.

"So,"

Jesse said, interrupting my day dreams.

"Which ride do you want to give a go first?"

The rest of the day passed in a blur. It was great, feeling the wind on your face, and having Jesse's arm around you, making you feel secure, when you felt like hurling. Before I knew it we were nearly home.

"How did you like it?"

"It was one of the best days of my life."

Jesse smiled.

"Me too."

I couldn't resist it. Maybe it was because he was smiling so nicely down at me, but I leaned over and kissed him, square on the lips. It was safe, because we were already parked – in front of my house, I might add.

I felt Jesse's strong arms wrap around me, pulling me closer, and I leaned in further, pressing my upper body against his. I kissed him back, hungrily. I slid my hand behind his neck, and he deepened the kiss even more.

I wished we could go on for ever, but that was, of course not possible. Especially considering the fact that we were parked _right in front of my house._

"Querida."

Jesse breathed against my lips.

"Jesse…"

I moaned, pulling his head forward, and kissing him all over again.

Whatever he was going to say, he pretty much forgot about it, for about 5 whole minutes, since he concentrated on just kissing me back. I felt his weight gradually covering mine. He was sliding his hand up and down my arm, his other hand was next to my face, and I was running my hands through his hair, only focusing on kissing him back. By this time we were completely horizontal, and it wasn't a particularly comfortable position. But I couldn't care less. The only thing I could feel (at that time) was how good his lips felt on mine, how I wish he would never stop kissing me, how I could feel how nice his tong felt in my mouth.

We paused for breath, and Jesse lifted his face from mine, looking down at me as if seeing me for the first time. His eyes bore into mine, and I could feel the intensity of the moment. He was stroking my cheek, and I was studying his mouth, watching a slow smile spread on his face. He was lowering his mouth down to mine again, and I closed my eyes, wishing he would always be mine.

He was sliding his hands up and down my bare back, (somehow he had gotten his hands under my t-shirt) sending shivers up and down my spine, and I was stroking his arm with a finger - still kissing, - when my watch beeped.

Startled, we sprang apart, and sat up straight. Jesse ran a hand through his hair, and I fumbled for my purse for my pocket mirror. Luckily, my face wasn't too messed up, although my hair certainly was. I pulled a hair brush out of my bag, and started re-fixing my hair, Jesse watching me with a secretive smile on his face. When I was done, I slipped my hair brush back into my bag, and Jesse got out the car. Following suite, I stepped out as well, into the warm night air. It had been 11 am when we had left, and it was 7pm now. The sun had set half an hour ago, and stars were starting to come out.

"I have something for you."

I looked up from the ground.

"What? But Jesse, you already-"

But I was stopped by his lips coming down on mine again. A few second later he pulled away.

"Sshh. That was nothing. I got you something else as well."

He pulled out a little box, and presented it to me. I opened it curiously, and lifted out a necklace. It had rhinestones in it and – well, it was just really really pretty.

"Oh Jesse."

I whispered.

"Do you like it?"

He asked hopefully.

"It's beautiful,"

I breathed.

He smiled, and stepped forward to fasten it around my neck. I fingered it, and looked up at him.

"Jesse how-"

But he stopped me again by covering my lips with his own.

"Don't mention it querida."

I smiled up at him, suddenly shy.

"It's really… thanks."

He grinned.

"I guess you'd better get going. You don't want to get grounded because of me. I'll call you okay?"

I nodded, and waved him off, then ran up the steps; let myself into the house, ran into the dinning room flinging myself into my chair just in time for dinner. And seeing Dopey chew with his mouth full wasn't as bad as usual.

**(A/N: I hope you liked it! I'll try update ASAP.)**


	12. LITTLE SECRETS

**(A/N: Sorry I'm taking so long to update. I'm just real tired and stuff. I feel un-inspired and do you know how _annoying _that is? Hope you like it even though something I can't quite put my finger on is wrong. Oh. And may I point out that I've only gotten 3 hours sleep today? So please be understanding and don't yell at me for- yeah.) **

**Disclaimer: Everyone (except Rachael) belongs to Meg Cabot.**

CHAPTER 12

LITTLE SECRETS

"So,"

Doc said, after carefully swallowing whatever he had shovelled in his moth before.

"Where'd you go?"

I smiled at Dopey across the table, a silent thank you for telling Jesse about 6 flags. Except, instead of grinning back as if to say you're welcome or something he started chocking. Seriously. You try thanking someone for their efforts and it comes over as such a big shock for them that they can't even swallow properly.

Everyone ignored him.

"Six flags."

I grinned happily.

"Really?"

Even sleepy seemed impressed.

"Even though he's pretty old I think I'm starting to warm up to him," Andy declared.

I grinned at him. I hadn't shown them the necklace he had given me yet. I didn't want to either. It would be my own little secret. I probably sounded pathetic, but it made me giddy thinking that I had gotten it from Jesse. _Jesse._ The same old Jesse who, as a ghost, would never even _think_ about hugging me, he thought we weren't made for each other. Well, he probably doesn't think we're meant for each other now that he's alive either, but he will. Some day. I hope. But whatever. That was not the point. I didn't feel like sharing it with anyone just yet. Of course, my mood changed when I slipped up stairs after dinner, and saw Rachael sitting on my bed, a grin plastered on her face.

"Hey." I said tiredly. I'd had a great day, don't get me wrong. But being outside from 11am till 6am is _tiring. _Even if you're having so much fun.

"Hi! What's wrong?"

"Nothing" I said, surprised. "Why?"

"Well, you seem a bit down, that's all."

I yawned.

"Nah. Just tired. Anyway, how did your meeting with lover boy go?"

"Who? You mean Paul?"

No _duh_.

"It went great."

"And…"

"Well, he's not mad at me if that's what you mean."

That's not what I mean. What I would have liked was _full detail maybe?_ But whatever.

"That's great."

She smiled.

"How long have you two been together again?"

"About a month now, I think."

I grinned. Paul had told me that if they managed to stay together for another 3 months, that he was willing to risk brining her back. He wanted to bring her back a week ago, but I told him it was too soon. I was trying to get him to wait for half a year, and he went bezerk. So we had to agree to 3 months.

"What are you grinning about?"

Then she gasped.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked in alarm.

I looked in the direction she was pointing in, and my gaze fell on my necklace. The one I'd gotten from Jesse.

"Oh my God."

I grinned.

"Suze… what…? I mean… YOU'RE SO LUCKY!"

"I am, aren't I?"

"God, I'm so envious!"

"Hey," I reassured her, "wait another 3 weeks. You'll see."

Maybe that sounded kind of bratty or snobby, I don't know, but Rachael didn't notice. Or maybe she did.

"I don't need anything from Paul. I love him. That's all that matters to me."

"Sorry." I muttered.

For some reason, I felt guilty.

I think Rachael noticed I was feeling uncomfortable, since she said:

"So. Ever planning on taking it off?"

"Only when I go swimming or in the shower."

She giggled.

"Suzie is in lo-ove, Suzie is in lo-ove!" she sang in a sing song voice.

Just then someone materialised behind her.

"Who is Suze in love with?"

**(A/N: Please review! And sorry it took so long to update such a boring chapter… )**


	13. CONFESSIONS

**(A/N: please don't kill me for leaving another cliffy. I hope you like this chapter although nothing much happens yet. I had planned the whole story and chapter 13 was supposed to be the last chapter, but by the looks of it there might have to be like 60-70 chapters. Whoops. Enjoy! I'll try update soon. It's just that lots of stuff is screwed up. School, home – my parents are having daily rows and might be divorcing – and my grades are kinda slipping… so I don't have too much time for updating. But I try.) **

CHAPTER 13

CONFESSIONS

"Dad!"

I ran up and gave him a hug, which startled him.

"Hey," I said. "This is Rachael. She's one of my best friends."

My dad shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Rachael."

"Nice to meet you too."

"So, dad. How are you doing?"

"You haven't answered my question yet."

Great. I was hoping he had forgotten about that.

"No one."

Right after I said that I felt guilty. What was wrong with me? Why did I have to pretend that Jesse was such a big secret?

"Well, actually, there is someone. His name is Jesse…"

"Who? The cowboy guy?"

"Dad! He is _not_ a cowboy!"

"But he's _dead _Suze."

"Not anymore he isn't."

"You mean… you mean you brought him back to life? But -. Do you even _know _how dangerous that is?" My dad exploded.

I knew he'd be mad. I wished some other ghost had decided to visit me instead. Pester me, more like it. Because my plan had failed. When I was brining Jesse back to life, my powers were supposed to have disappeared. But they didn't. They stayed. Which was starting to piss me off. I'd much rather have lost my powers and lived happily ever after with Jesse, but instead my "gift" – more like a curse – hadn't disappeared, and Jesse was trying to spend as much time with me as possible, since soon he'll be having to take his exams to go to medical school. I was glad there was one close by. It was only an hour by train.

I stayed silent during his whole rant, and by the time he'd shut up it was 20 minutes later.

"I'm sorry dad." I said. I meant it too.

He was watching me. "I suppose this fellow of yours must be really special." He said.

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have done it, would you?"

I knew this was a rhetorical question, but I shook my head anyway.

He hugged me and kissed me on the top of my head.

"Sorry for yelling at you like that."

"It's okay. It's only your job."

He smiled a little at that.

"Yeah. I suppose it is my job to worry about you."

"And hate all the guys I go out with."

"What?" He asked, baffled.

"Well, you seem to hate him." I said coldly.

I saw my dad's eyes soften.

"I don't hate him. He seems like a real nice dude."

I looked at him.

"Boy then."

"Let's stick to guy."

"All right. He seems like a real nice dude."

"Guy." I corrected him.

"Guy." He agreed. "All I want is what's best for you."

I smiled. I must have had a far away look on my face since he said, "Tell me about him."

"Well-" I started to say, but was interrupted by Rachael.

"Um. I guess I'll go now. I'll tell you about it some other time Suze."

I watched her de-materialise.

"You were saying?"

I hesitated, then said "Well, his name is Jesse."

"I know that. But what makes him so special?"

I had to think about that for a long time. No way was I going to tell him about the whole he-is-the-one thing.

"I don't know."

He smiled down at me.

"That's exactly what I thought when I met your mom."

Oh my god this was so embarrassing.

"Uh yeah."

I think my dad seemed to notice my discomfort; he opened his mouth to say something but was disrupted by someone else. Someone who wasn't quite alive.

"Oh my God." I said when I saw who it was.

My dad stared.

"Uh, I think I'll get back to you Suze. Good luck with this dude. I mean guy."

My dad de-materialized, and I collapsed on my bed, careful not to look him in the eye.

**(A/N: Review please!) **


	14. UNEXPECTED VISITORS

**(A/N: Hey, I finally updated. Sorry about taking so long. Thank for all the reviews!)**

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CHAPTER 14

UNEXPECTED VISITORS

After staring at me for a couple minutes, he cleared his throat.

"Um… are you quite alright?"

"Fine. Sorry about that. Let me introduce myself. I'm Susannah Simon. But everyone just calls me Suze."

"Well hello Susannah. I'm-"

I broke him off by laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked, indignantly.

"I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are."

"Oh. Well, I suppose there's no point in introducing myself then."

I smiled at him, still staring. After a couple minutes he seemed to get pissed.

"What is it? What's on my face?"

I shook myself. Now don't get me wrong: I've met a lot of ghosts. I even met Tupac 9 years ago. But this was way too weird. I mean, seeing my dad was weird, and meeting Tupac was even weirder. But this was beyond weird.

"Nothing, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just tired."

"Oh." He seemed lost for words.

"So, what's the problem? I mean, why do you think you haven't moved up to heaven yet?"

"I'm missing something. Something very precious to me."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"It's my bible. The first one I ever got. I was supposed to return it to a friend of mine. But I died, and never got a chance to."

"Aha. And if I get that bible to your friend you will move up to heaven?"

"Yes. But, this bible, it is very special to me. And it's very well hidden. It will be very difficult for you to retrieve it. The place is heavily guarded. Especially since I've just died."

I remained silent while he told me where I could find his holy bible, and then watched him

Dematerialise, apparently extremely happy because I promised to go find it for him.

I sighed, and buried my face in my hands. Why me? I mean seriously. I'm always the one stuck with the biggest mess. Like, in sixth grade, we had to do projects on all these famous people, and I chose Tupac, since I figured I could get loads of cool information since he was visiting me on a daily basis, and exactly on that day he move up to heaven, and I couldn't find any really cool information on the net, and ended up getting a F. Well, I guess that doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but it shows that I'm always stuck with all the bad luck. Sort of. Whatever.

Just as I was re-living these painful-but-random memories, the phone rang. I leaped up and grabbed it, before anyone else could. I don't know why I thought it could be, since CeeCee and Adam were at the cinema – together – and Jesse wasn't home yet.

"Hello?" I said, curiously.

"Hey. Suze?"

"I've told you Paul, I am not letting you bring her back to life just yet. We've already discussed this, and no, I haven't changed my mind."

"Oh. Well, that's not what I was calling for, but thanks for the information."

I felt myself turn red.

"Oh? Why'd you call then?"

I know I was being rude. And I know Paul had changed ever since he met Rachael. But still. I mean, he had tried to break me and Jesse up on several occasions, so I have a reason to be reproachful.

"I was wondering if Rachael was at your place, but she just materialised here, so I guess that's ok."

I stayed silent. What was I suppose to say? I guess Paul noticed that I was feeling down, since he was all like, "Suze? Suze? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

He wasn't fooled though.

"Sure Suze. And the pope is Jewish. What's wrong?"

"Well, actually, my dad hates Jesse, Rachael is jealous of me, Andy seems to think I'm his "daughter" and calls me sweetie and honey, and I think Brad is starting to think that I'm a selfish witch."

Except I didn't say witch, if you know what I mean.

"Oh. Let me see. _And _I have to go retrieve the _pope's bible_ from this church in _Italy_, for him to move on to heaven. Apart from that, life's _great_."

I think Paul noticed that I was having a fit and that I was about to burst into tears, since he was all like:

"I'll be right there to pick you up. We're working on an English project together, and I need your help. Okay?"

I nodded, realised he couldn't see me, and said

"Yeah."

He was about to hang up when I said,

"Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Sure Suze, no problem."

I smiled, and put the phone down. I was glad Paul was my friend now. He could really be helpful at times, just like this one. A couple minutes later I heard the doorbell.

"Oh, hi Paul." My mom answered the door.

"Hey Mrs. Ackerman? Or is it Simon?"

I heard my mom laugh. "Ackerman."

"So, what brings you here Paul?"

"Well, Suze and I are working on an English project together, and I'm kinda stuck."

It was at this point that I came downstairs.

"Oh, hi Paul. Yeah, I'm sorry. I totally forgot about yesterday. I left you a message, did you get it?"

"Sure. It's fine." Thank god he was playing along.

I turned to my mom.

"I guess I kinda forgot to tell you about it. Paul and I are working on an English project together and-"

My mom interrupted me.

"Sure Suzie, its fine. But be back before 11:45, okay?"

I grinned and grabbed my coat.

"See ya."

**(A/N: Sorry about not updating and stuff. I was kinda busy. Stuff at home's still the same… and lots of tests are scheduled for this week, but I'll try updating soon, I promise. And I'm working on another fan fic, that I haven't published yet. Look out for it some day in the 1-800-WHERE-R-U section. ) thanks, and REVIEW! )**


	15. TEARS

**(A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I had a lot of tests and homework to revise for. Luckily holidays are coming up, so keep checking!)**

CHAPTER 15

TEARS

10 minutes later we were pulling up into Paul's driveway. I got out, and so did he. Not speaking, we made our way up to the door.

"I called Jesse." He said.

I looked at him.

"You looked like you needed some moral support, and I'm probably not very much help."

This surprised me.

"What? Paul… Paul you're great help. Thanks for helping me out there, getting me away from home. And you're calling Jesse is…"

"Suze, that's nothing."

By this time we were in the kitchen, and Paul was looking through the cupboards, trying to find clean glasses. He found them, and got out four cans of coke. He saw me eyeing them suspiciously.

"Don't worry its diet."

I smiled, and started to relax. Rachael came in then.

"Oh my God Suze. You look so… well, not well. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

But you could tell I had a lot on my mind. Not only the whole pope visiting me, and me having to go to Rome to get his Bible, my dad hating Jesse, Jesse going to college in the fall, and all other little problems, but homework was piling up too, and I was finding less and less time to myself, and now I had to go to Rome. I'm telling you, being able to see ghosts is _annoying_. Although it has its advantages. Such as Jesse and Rachael, and my dad. But that's it.

Just as I was thinking this, Jesse walked in as well. I didn't even notice him I was so lost in thought. Suddenly I felt a sharp, stinging pain.

"Ow." I said, clutching my cheek.

"What was _that_ for?"

I turned to look at Paul, and found all three of them staring at me.

"_What?_"

"Jeez Suze. You look really pale. Are you feeling okay?"

All of a sudden I felt like crying again. Which surprised me. I thought I had gotten over this crying business. Plus, I nearly never cry. Tears were prickling in the corners of my eyes, and I felt a lump rise in my throat.

I couldn't help it. I stood up, walked over to Jesse, buried my head in his chest and started crying softly.

"Er…"

"Come on Paul"

I heard Rachael say, pulling Paul into the dining room.

Jesse seemed mighty uncomfortable. He tensed, but after Rachael and Paul left the room, I felt his strong arms wrap around me. I tried to regain control of my emotions. After 5 minutes, I finally succeeded. I reached up and wiped my eyes, and as I did so, I took a step back, out of Jesse's warm embrace.

"Oh" I said, seeing the mess on Jesse's shirt. "I'm so sorry…"

Jesse looked down at his shirt and grimaced, then seeing the look on my face, laughed.

"It's okay."

"No, really. It's my fault I-"

I stopped talking as I saw what Jesse was doing. Well, actually nothing special. That is, unless you have seen his abs on a daily basis. And no, don't get any stupid ideas in your head. He was not pulling up his tee shirt and going "hey, look at this!" He was just taking his shirt of, but his tee shirt got stuck to his shirt, and so it kind of went up, and I got a glimpse of his perfectly – well you get the picture.

"I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"Nothing," I said, truthfully. I didn't know what I was saying.

"Are you felling better now?"

"I suppose."

"Okay." He took my hand.

"Come on, we have to discuss with Paul what will happen about the whole Pope story.

I stopped, dead in my tracks.

"What do you mean, _we_? I don't work in groups I prefer working by myself thank you very much."

"Do you think I am letting you go to Rome by yourself?"

"No. but I'll find a way to get around that."

"Oh?" He lifted one dark eyebrow.

"How?"

"Like this?" I suggested leaning forwards and kissing him on the lips.

He kissed me back for a few seconds, then broke away.

"Nice try."

"Well, then there's always the sneaky way. Or I could just punch you, if I had to. But that would be as a last resort."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I would too."

"No you wouldn't."

"Oh yes I would."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Fine. You asked for it."

I hauled back my fist, and was about to slug him, but my hand stopped right before I actually _did _hit his nose. I probably would have broken it if I hadn't stopped in time. Jesse looked hurt, as if I would have punched him.

My arm hung limp by my side. Jesse was still observing me sadly. He looked so sweet too.

"Sorry."

"You better be. _You_ nearly broke your boyfriend's nose."

I swivelled around, to find Rachael observing me disapprovingly.

"Way to treat your boyfriend."

I was about to answer, but Paul dragged her away saying something along the lines of "they can sort it out themselves."

"Were you actually going to punch me?"

"I can't." I said softly. So softly I didn't think he had heard it.

But a slow smile was creeping over his face. "I told you so."

I didn't smile back, but surveyed the floor instead.

"I know."

We were quiet for a while, and I felt do disappointed in myself. How could I have tried to punch Jesse? _Jesse_ of all people. A single tear fell down my cheek. Jesse noticed immediately, and wiped it away.

"You're not going to start that again are you?"

I smiled sadly.

"Susannah. Please stop crying. I hate seeing you sad. Please? You can punch me again if you really want to."

I laughed. He sounded so sweet. He pulled me back into his arms and held me close. I leaned my head on his chest, and listened to his heart beat.

"Well, well, well. Good to see you've made up already."

Surprised, we sprang apart. _Great. Why are we always interrupted? _I thought. I saw a small smile creep over Jesse's lips. _STOP READING MY MIND!_ It grew broader. _No, seriously. I mean it._ Jesse wad trying not to smile. I tried as hard as I could to block his mind out, and instantly saw his grin turn into a look of surprise. _Ha._ I thought. _Now, I wonder what Jesse is thinking of._ I tried, slowly to probe into his brain, and I heard a voice in my head. "_Nice try, querida. Not going to succeed this time_." _DAMN!_

Rachael laughed. "Awwww. You two looked to sweet together."

"Looked? What do you mean looked?"

Rachael laughed some more, and Paul checked his watch.

"It's already nine Suze. We only have two hours. Come on, we still have a whole journey to plan."

**(A/N: I know nothing really happens in this chappy… I still haven't decided yet what will happen, SORRY! And, erm… please review! Thanks!)**


	16. BLACKOUTS AND TRIPS TO ROME

**(A/N: I know I took long to update. Thanks people who reviewed! I know it's short, but next chappy will be longer, promise.)**

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CHAPTER 16

BLACK-OUTS AND TRIPS TO ROME

"Okay. So let's go over it again." Paul said. "You, Jesse and I will each split into two bodies. Basically, there are two versions of us. The real us have to go to Rome, because the other us is not very reliable. But everything should go fine." He said, seeing the look on my face. "This is really easy; it just shouldn't be tried by beginners. But we are all shifters, so that will work. So, in two weeks we will be flying to Rome,"

"Where your auntie lives." I said.

"Correct. First we have to find out where the basilica is, but it should be easy to find."

"During the day, we will watch out for security cameras or if we see anything unusual. Then, that night"

"We will break in and search the place. Remember, there is a brick behind a tapestry that loosens. When you take it out, there is a little space. It should be in there somewhere." I finished.

"Jeez. That bible must mean a lot to him. _Really really _a lot. That's kinda cute."

We all turned to look at Rachael.

"_What?"_

None of us answered, and directed our attention back to what we will be doing in Rome.

Paul was the first one to speak.

"So, we all know what's gonna happen?"

We all nodded. "Okay. Well… its only 10, I promised to get you home before 11:30… and if you get home this early your mom might become suspicious that it doesn't have anything to do with an English project. So… what do we do?"

"We could rent a movie?" Rachael suggested.

Which is how, Rachael and I ended up, half an hour later, watching Pretty women with rapt attention.

Paul and Jesse had retired to some place else in the house, agreeing with each other that this was a "girls movie." Jesse had groaned when he'd seen what we had come back with, 10 minutes later.

"She's made me watch that movie 3 times already."

Paul had only laughed, and since he had never seen it, sat down beside Rachael, for the first 10 minutes. However, when Richard Gere had ordered strawberries and Champagne, he somehow "understood Jesse's pain and couldn't believe I had been so cruel."

And even my comeback of how Jesse wouldn't let me read a book or even listen to my walkman during _Jaws_ didn't impress him much. Instead, he looked horrified when I voiced it.

So, in other words, it was just me and Rachael watching Pretty Women, while Paul and Jesse were probably playing racing car games.

However, when I got up to make popcorn, I saw that they were not playing computer games. Instead, there was an eerie glow about the room, and when I peeked in; I saw that Paul was tutoring Jesse about shifting. Not wanting to miss out on anything, I knocked, and entered.

Paul and Jesse didn't seem surprised to see me.

"Pretty Women already bored you?"

"No. I was actually on my way to make popcorn, but it looked like you two were doing more interesting stuff."

"What isn't more interesting than Pretty Women?" Jesse asked laughing.

"Jaws, that's for sure."

Jesse's facial expression turned to mock outrage.

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

Paul was watching all this unfold with a sickened expression on his face.

"Um… I'm going to check up on the popcorn for you Suze. See if the movie has gotten any more interesting."

I watched him close the door and he winked at me. I winked back. I knew he was looking for an excuse to be alone with Rachael, but at the same time he was giving me and Jesse an excuse to be together as well. I, however, had other plans in mind.

"What were you and Paul doing just then?"

"He was just teaching me some shifter stuff." Replied in answer to my question.

"Such as..?" I persisted.

"Actually, materializing. It turns out that you can be alive and materialize anywhere else in the world, not just while you're dead."

"Really?" I was eager to learn more. "How?"

"Well, he's only shown me how to move small distances. Like from one end of the room to the other."

"Jesse, answer my question please." I interrupted, quite rudely, even to my own ears.

"Well, you like, close your eyes, and you have to concentrate really hard on that spot. And you have to like think of something very happy at the same time, and pretend you are in that place and… It's really hard to explain. Just try it."

I focused hard on my bedroom, back at home. I was sitting at my desk, doing my trig homework, and Spike had just walked in through the open window. A voice was sounding in my head. _"Jesse" I said softly. "If you want to go back, now is the time before it closes up again. Jesse looked at the hole, then at me and then back at the hole. "No thank you _querida_, I think I want to see how it all ends."_

I opened my eyes, which were now brimming with tears, and to my utter astonishment I saw that I _was_ in fact sitting at my desk, staring down at my trig homework in amazement. I heard a pounding on my bedroom door.

_Shit! _I quickly thought of the room I was in with Jesse, how the rooms walls were a pretty sky blue colour, and that the room was surprisingly cool, compared to the cosy warmth of the living room, where Rachael and I had been watching Pretty Women. I thought of Jesse's amazing brown eyes, and all of a sudden realised I was staring right into them.

Paul and Rachael were in the room as well, Paul looking at me with an air of proud amazement.

"Suze that was AWSOME! That was beyond awesome! And you travelled so far and on your first try as well!"

I blushed, feeling overwhelmed by the compliments. I looked back at Jesse, and saw that his eyes were shining with the same anticipation that Paul's had been. His lips were parted into a grin, and I wished I could reach out and kiss them; before everything went black before my eyes, and I fell silently to the floor.

**(A/N: Sorry for leaving yet another cliffy! Please don't kill me! Break is coming up, so that means I'll have time to update soon! )**


	17. PREGNANT?

**(A/N: sorry I took so long to update. I'm trying to do as much revising as I can before the final exams in 6 weeks. I know 6 weeks is a long time, but I'm not smart and un-talented, and I need this time to study if I wanna pass! **

**I'll do my best to update, although I don't think I'll get more than a chapter done a week.) **

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CHAPTER 17

PREGNANT?

"Susannah. Susannah are you all right? What happened? Susannah, can you hear me?"

Jesse's face was swimming in and out of view. What was he doing here? Wasn't he dead? And why were Paul and this strange girl with red hair here?

"Susannah, answer me."

Jesse's face was getting blurred, and I couldn't see him that well, darkness was threatening to over cloud my vision, but I didn't let it. I blinked, and tried to sit up. As I did so, the pain in my head increased. I felt stiff, and I was aching all over. I tried again, and this time succeeded, but also managed to throw up all over Jesse's shoes.

I muttered an extremely nice 4 letter word. "Jesse, I'm so sorry…" But Jesse didn't seem that preoccupied about his shoes.

"We should get you home." He said. "You're as pale as death."

I nodded weakly.

"Here, have some water." The girl with red hair said, extending a glass of water to me. _Rachael._

I took it gratefully, and stood up, trying to ignore the pain searing through my head. I felt dizzy, but tried not to let it show.

"Suze? Your mom wants to talk to you." Paul said, handing the phone over to me.

"Mom?"

"Suzie! Oh Suzie! I heard what happened! Are you okay? I'm coming over to pick you up. Oh thank God you're all right! I was so _worried._"

"Sure, mom. Could you just like, hurry please?"

"I'll be right there."

"Thanks mom, bye."

"Oh, and Suzie-" She said, but I'd already hung up. My head was killing me, and my vision was getting blurred with tears. I wished someone could just hit me over the head with something hard, and that I could black out, so I wouldn't have to feel the pain.

Jesse stepped forward, noticing my tears, but I waved him off. Rachael however, didn't get the message that I wanted to be left alone.

"Suze, I gotta tell you something." She said.

"What?"

"Well…" she said, her voice faltering as she glanced towards Jesse and Paul.

"We're leaving already." Paul said, sounding offended. "Come on Jesse."

Rachael waited until they had closed the door behind them, and then sat down on the couch, in front of the play station 2. She patted the space next to her, and I sat down, wondering what she wanted to tell me.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm okay. My head feels like it's about to burst, and I just threw up all over my boyfriends shoes, yeah, I'm _great_."

"Sorry." Rachael muttered. "I just thought, that, you know, there was a reason to why you fainted and threw up and stuff."

"Such as…?"

Rachael blushed. "Have you and Jesse like… you know… done it?"

I stared at her. _Did she just really ask me that?_

"Coz, you know, if u were pregnant… maybe that was the reason…?"

I looked at her and burst out laughing.

"Rachael!"

"Sorry." She said. A grin was forming on her face. "I know it's a stupid idea. It was just the first thing that popped into my mind and I thought that…" She stopped to catch her breath. By this time I felt like my sides were splitting we were laughing so hard.

"Rachael" I said, wiping away tears of laughter "where the hell did you get _that_ idea from? And even if I would ever you know… do _it_ with Jesse-" I blushed at the thought "I would not let him without a condom. I mean, _seriously_. And Jesse is way too much of a gentleman to deflower me before marriage anyway."

"I'm sorry. I know. It was just the first thing that came into my head."

"You're forgiven. Hey… wow… I feel better now… strange… what did you put in the water?"

Rachael grinned. "Secret."

I heard the doorbell ring, and rushed out of the room into the hall.

"Jesse!" I hissed.

He motioned to me from behind the kitchen door where he was hiding, just out of view of my mom, to whom Paul had just opened the door.

"Mom!" I rushed towards her before she could come in and spot Jesse.

"Suzie! Oh thank god you're all right! How are you feeling?"

"Better than before, I guess. Tired."

"Well, come on, let's get you home then. I can imagine you're tired, after such a day! Six flags must have worn you out."

"Six flags was great." I said stonily.

"I can imagine. Jesse's a great guy Suze, and don't look at me like that. Brad is the one you should be looking at evilly. He's the one who's got something against Jesse. Not me."

"Right." I said, glancing towards Paul who was looking half amused, half nervous. I guess it's strange to be able to over hear your girlfriend's best friend's conversation with her mom about her boyfriend. I glanced back at mom, then at Paul again. Finally she got the point.

"Come on Suze, let's get you home."

"Uh, yeah." I said to Paul. "I guess I'll see you on Monday."

"Sure thing. See ya."

I glanced at Jesse, who mouthed "I'll call you", and waved. Smiling back at him, I made my way to the car, sank down in the passenger seat and didn't say a word until we got home.

I stayed silent as mom turned off the ignition, and I un-buckled my seat belt, stepping out of the car. I shivered as I pulled my coat tighter around me, and made my way up the driveway to the porch, and let myself into the house.

Brad was still up, playing cool border, and my mind flashed back to the first time I'd met him, and I'd beat him 8 times in a row before he gave up. The first day I'd met Jesse. I smiled as I recalled the memory, and found Brad smiling right back at me.

_He must have thought I was smiling at _him. My face flushed at the thought.

"You all right? We heard what happened. What _did _happen anyways? You just, blacked out?"

"Yes. Now if you don't mind I'm going up to bed."

Yes, I know. I know I was being mean, but I didn't care. My head was killing me and he was actually being _nice _to me. Why can't he try being friends with someone else? Why not try being friendly towards _Jesse_? What had Jesse ever done to _him _anyways, for him to hate Jesse this much?

Angrily I stomped up the stairs stopped at my bedroom door. This time, no surprises. I squared my shoulders and threw the door open, and stopped dead. It was empty. Finally. Finally, finally, _finally_, my room was devoid of any presences except my own. I got dressed in the bathroom – yes, habits are hard to break – and climbed into bed, staring at the canopy above. I lay like that for 10 minutes, thinking about absolutely nothing, before finally surrendering, and letting my eye lids shut.

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**(A/N: please review! I know not much happened, and that the story kinda sucks at the moment, but it'll get better! Somehow.)**


	18. TRIGONOMETRY

**(A/N: I finally updated! Sorry for taking so long! At least it's twice as long… :) have fun reading it… I doubt it though. Nothing exciting! But I added some fluff at least. :)……) **

**Disclaimer: Everyone except Rachael belong to Meg Cabot!**

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CHAPTER 19

TRIGONOMETRY

"So, how did your date go?"

I asked casually during lunch on Monday. The sun was beating down quite hard, but I didn't mind too much. If I got sun-burnt, I'd probably turn to tan the next day. CeeCee however, did not have the same luxury as me. She was sting in the sun, but complete in jeans and a long sleeves tee. She had pulled her sun hat down, over her eyes, and her whole face was thrown into shadow. You might have though that this looked weird, but CeeCee's ensemble actually looked really cute on her.

CeeCee blushed, but Adam grinned.

"Okay." Adam said, as CeeCee said "It was fun." They looked at each other, and CeeCee went "Good" and Adam went "Great."

I laughed. "Details?"

They both looked uncomfortable.

I laughed again. "Don't worry, CeeCee'll tell me. Some day."

I saw CeeCee smile at me, careful not to show Adam. This obviously meant yes.

We were quiet for a while, until Adam went, "Hey, Suze, how about _your_ date? Where did you go? Wasn't it a surprise or something?"

I grinned. "Yeah. It was great."

"Yeah, but where did you go?"

I swallowed my mouth full of pasta. "Six Flags theme park."

"Holy Shit."

"You're _joking._"

I shook my head, still grinning.

"You two are _so _destined for each other." CeeCee said.

I smiled at the compliment.

"Just be sure to use a condom though." Adam added, grinning wickedly.

"ADAM!" I yelled in embarrassment, at the same time that CeeCee shoved him, hard, so that he fell to the ground, spilling half his coke can on my shoes in the process.

"Cee!" He yelled, at the same time that I yelled "Adam!" again.

"Guys, shut up!" CeeCee hissed, but it was too late. Sister Ernestine had already seen us.

"Mister Mc Travish, Miss Webb and Miss_ Simon_." She spat my name as if it were something foul. "Have you no respect? Detention for each of you. And _Miss Simon_, father Dominic would like a word with you."

"Now?"

"Yes _now,_ what do you think?"

"I think you're a horrible wrench," I muttered under my breath.

CeeCee looked at me in horror, but Adam laughed softly. "Right on Sister."

I rolled my eyes at them, and, sighing, got up, brushed all the sand off my butt and made my way down towards father Dominic's office.

I didn't bother knocking, just pulled the door open and marched in.

"Hello Susannah."

I plopped down into the seat in front of his desk.

"Hey father Dom. What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Paul."

"Oh. Okay, why's that?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. He wanted to talk to me about Paul. Why didn't he talk to Paul about Paul?

"Well, I've noticed he's been acting a bit odd lately. Not quite himself. More…"

"Human?" I suggested.

He frowned at me, the way principals are supposed to frown at you when you say something not very nice about another pupil.

"Relaxed is the word I was looking for."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Would you know why that is?"

I looked up at him in surprise. Paul hadn't told him about him and Rachael?

"Well, yeah, I think. Ever since he's been going out with Rachael-" I broke off, as I watched father Dom choke on his coffee.

"What?" he spluttered?

"Rachael. You know, I introduced her to you a couple weeks ago?"

"The ghost?"

I nodded.

"Oh no. Not him as well."

I looked up at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"He wants to bring Rachael back to life, doesn't he?"

"What?"

But he had already read the answer in my facial expression.

"Oh dear Lord." He murmured.

"Father Dom? What are you worrying about? It's really simple. Look how easy it went with Jesse! All you had to do was wave that stinky stuff-"

"It's called incense."

"Right whatever, and then the sky opens up and…"

"Susannah, it can cost you your life."

I gulped. I never thought he would have figured it out.

"It can?" I pretended to look shocked. "Gee, I was lucky wasn't I?"

"Susannah, you knew perfectly well that it could have cost you your life. I can't believe you didn't tell me, or at least Jesse-"

"If I had told Jesse he wouldn't have agreed to do it."

"Neither would I." He muttered.

"That's exactly the point father Dom. It was the only way Jesse could come back to life. Do you think I would have done it if I didn't think it was 100 percent worth it? I knew Jesse wouldn't have agreed if it could have gone wrong, and neither would you. That's why I didn't tell you. Because you would have said no, and-"

I broke off, catching a glimpse pf his face.

"What?"

He handed me a box of tissues, and all of a sudden I realised I was crying. Again. Oh God, what is wrong with me? I never cry, and when I do, I can't stop.

I buried my face in my hands and sat there like that, crying for 5 minutes, before I realised that I forgot to put on waterproof eyeliner and mascara, and dried up in a matter of seconds. Father Dom, who had been patting my shoulder for the past five minutes straightened and sighed with relief. You could tell he wasn't accustomed to 16 year old girls crying in front of him. 6 year olds maybe, but not 16.

"Sorry." I said. "I should have told you. It's just that you would have said no and…" I trailed off, not knowing how to finish.

Father Dom was silent for a while.

"I know how you feel." He said. "I used to be in love with a ghost too. I don't think I ever told you."

"Yeah." I said quietly. "You mentioned it before."

"I have?" He seemed surprised. "Oh dear. Looks like I'm starting to lose my memory."

I smiled.

"You really love him don't you?" He asked.

"What?" I asked, startled.

"Jesse. You love him don't you?"

"W-well- I d-don't know-w I mean…" I trailed off, blushing furiously. "Yes."

Father Dom had a far away look in his eyes.

"What was she like?" I asked, carefully, not to screw up, in case he never told me anything about her and I wouldn't be able to blackmail him into doing something someday if it would come in useful. Hey! Don't look at me like that. I'd only do it if I really needed it!

He didn't reply at once.

"She was 18 years old. Ginger hair, always worn down. Her name was Eryn." His eyes were bright with emotion. "But she moved on, so I became a priest. I was convinced it was my fault she has moved on so soon, and I thought God would erase my sins…"

I looked at him. Poor father Dom. I wished there was a way I could have helped him. A sudden thought struck my head, as if I had finally found the light switch, and switched a light bulb on in my head.

"Father Dom…" I began slowly. "You know that when you die, you can either go to heaven or hell… But there's a theory that your soul gets re-incarnated. But you see, I had a friend… a ghost friend. She was re-incarnated. Back into human form. Her name was Flora. She says that…" I broke off, as father Dominic interrupted me.

"I know what you are thinking Susannah. But I do not love her anymore, and I am sure that she is in heaven. She moved on. She's gone. And I am a priest, Susannah. I cannot give up my priest hood for this. Sometimes…. Sometimes you've just got to accept fate. This is the way He wanted it."

_Stupid devoted moron. _I thought. Do you love her or not? If you love her, isn't that the most important? I mean, even God must know that. It's not like he is some evil tyrant. If he really is all forgiving, and it's for the love of your life, he would forgive you for it, wouldn't He?

I mentioned this to father Dom, but it "didn't work that way". A lot of stuff doesn't work that way apparently, Jesse told me after school, when he was trying (and failing) to explain to me how to do my trig homework.

"You see? You have to add the adjacent side with the perpendicular bisector to find the hypotenuses' length. (A/N: don't believe this, I'm writing utter crap.)

I sighed, and dropped my head into my hands. "What?"

Jesse bent forward to write something in my note book, and I squinted to see what it said. 'The adjacent is equal to the opposite side. If you add the hypothenuse with the…' I stopped paying attention, and stood up. He had been trying to get me to understand this for an hour already.

"Jesse, this is hopeless. I'll be right back, getting a drink. You want anything?"

He shook his head, smiling down at me. I stood on tip toes to kiss him on the lips, before leaving the room. He kissed me back, softly, and I smiled, loving the way his lips felt on my own.

_Don't go querida. Stay here. With me. No one is home, except for Bradley, who's in the garden phoning that Debbie Mancusso girl. _

I stopped probing into his mind, and whispered into his ear, "Let's take a break."

I think he agreed with me, if the fact that he pulled me back into his embrace, and started kissing me all over again was a sign. I let my hands wander through his hair, and he slid his hands down to my waist. Soon enough, Jesse's shirt was lying on the floor, and we were on the bed – in a very comfortable position I might add. - My hands were making their way slowly down from his chest and he groaned and pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my waist – preventing me to pull away. As if I'd ever want to do _that_. We came up for breath, and I looked down at him. Good thing I had forgotten to apply lip gloss, or he'd have it all over his face. He was looking up at me, a devil-ish smile dancing across his face.

_Oh God. _I thought. _Stop reading my mind! _

"I think you're extremely sexy too." He whispered in my ear.

I blushed a deep shade of purple and tried to sit up. Except that Jesse was making this very difficult, seeing as how he still had his arms wrapped around my waist. _Oh well_. I thought. _I like it better this way anyway._

I smiled down at Jesse; as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, and leaned down to kiss him again. We lay like that, occasionally coming up for air, and I didn't think anything could have ruined my mood.

A while later I was lying on the bed, Jesse's arms wrapped around me, my head leaning on his chest. Unfortunately for me he had put his tee shirt back on. I heard the front door slam, sat up quickly.

_Shit. Was it this late already?_

I heard someone climb up the stairs, and quickly got off the bed, and sat down in my desk chair, Jesse following me close behind.

"So the hypotenuse is the longest side, and the adjacent side is always opposite the angle. But then how do you find the length?"

I heard Jesse sigh. "It depends. You need the formula. S-O-H, C-A-H, or

T-O-A."

"What?" I asked, confused. As you can tell, maths is not my best subject.

"'S' stands for sine. 'O' stands for opposite side and 'h' is the hypotenuse. 'C' equals cosine, 'a' is the adjacent and 'T' is-"

A knock on the door interrupted Jesse's very interesting – not – speech.

"Oh. Hi Suze, Jesse."

"Hey mom." She looked quizzically at me, obviously wondering what Jesse was doing here. "Jesse promised to help me with my trig homework. Hope that's okay with you."

As soon as she heard the word 'homework' my moms face relaxed. "Oh that's really nice of you Jesse. I'll tell Andy to cook for 6 people then, shall I?"

"Oh, thank you, that's very kind, but I have to get going soon. I have an essay to finish and-"

He was interrupted by my squealing. "I GET IT!" I laughed out loud. "Jesse I get it!" I threw myself at him and hugged him, still laughing.

My mom backed out of the doorway. "Of course. You're always welcome Jesse."

Jesse smiled at my mom from where he was hugging me back. "Thank you Miss Ackerman."

My mom closed the door softly behind her, and I started explaining enthusiastically to Jesse how to do the sum. Jesse smiled and nodded after I was done explaining. "Finally." He grinned.

"I couldn't have done it without you." I confessed.

"I know."

"Hey!" I shoved him playfully. "You were supposed to say "of course you could have"."

Jesse smiled down softly at me, and I wrapped my arms around him, never wanting to let him go, although I had t o eventually.

**(A/N: I am such a sad and boring person that I decided to write a completely useless chapter. Also I am brain dead. Don't blame me. Blame all the teachers at my school who enjoy watching us suffer under all the pressure of homework and the exams in 4 weeks. Please review!)**


	19. SENSORED CHAPTER TITLE

**(A/N: sorry for taking so long to update! My computer crashed, so now all my work is on an other computer and I am on my moms lap top… I writ this all as quick as I could, and sacrificed my math grade for you guys who wanted me to update so badly... haha. Oh well… I hope its okay! I have end of year tests in a week and 3 days… so I might take a while to update… and then its holidays… and I'll be gone for 6 weeks… but I'll write it all and type it up as soon as I can when I get back. Oh, and thanks for the reviews!)**

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**Disclaimer: (nearly) everything belongs to Meg Cabot… she rules!**

-.-.-.-.-SENSORED CHAPTER TITLE-.-.-.-.-

"So, have you fucked him yet?" Dopey asked as I was loading the dishes into the dishwasher.

I chocked. "_What?" _

"Your precious little Mafia boyfriend."

"Okay listen, A) He isn't part of the mafia, B) Italians and Russians are Mafias, and Jesse happens to be Spanish, and C) it really isn't any of your business."

"So I'll take that as a "yes"?"

"No."

"So I'm taking it as a no."

"No." I said, not wanting to give him any information whatsoever about Jesse and mine's love life. I finished loading the dishes into the dishwasher, slammed it shut and started to walk away, back up the stairs to my room.

"So what am I taking it as?" He asked, following me up the landing. Oh _God_. When had he become so interested in my life?

"Why should you care?" I asked, swivelling around abruptly.

"I –well, I…" He seemed lost for words.

"Exactly." I turned around and marched off, back to my room.

"If it's a no, then why can't you just say so?" He yelled after me.

Good question. Except, I really wasn't in the mood for this kind of stuff. I had a math report due for tomorrow, and I only had two hours to finish it. Yeah, and it was only 8pm, but I had other, more important stuff to do. Such as pack, and clone myself.

That's right. We're going to Rome. Today. I was already nervous, and now _Dopey_ of all people starts interrogating me about my sex life? Not to mention the fact that I'm having PMS? Yeah, not good. So you can understand that I really didn't feel like being sympathetic towards him.

"Because, as I've said before, it really isn't any of your business, and I don't see why you need to know anyway." Which is basically the same thing. Dopey however, was too thick to figure it out. Doc however, wasn't.

"Suze, I hope you just noticed that you've just stated the same thing twice. That's called -"

Doc's voice was drowned by the sound of the telephone ringing. Thankfully, my mom picked it up downstairs.

"Anyway, as I was saying -"

"David, do we really need to hear this?"

Sleepy had joined us on the landing, on the way to Peninsula Pizza.

"I was just informing Suze that -" Doc started to say in a huff, but was interrupted yet again, only this time by Dopey.

"You were informing her very rudely, since we were happening to have a conversation." Dopey said, pissed off.

"Oh yes, a very important conversation. I'm sorry about that. I'm sure you really need to know that Suze has already made love to her boyfriend."

I choked, and turned red.

"Really?" Jake seemed highly interested, and more awake than usual. "I hope you told him to use a condom, because you really don't want to end up pregnant or with HIV."

"No, Jake. HIV is when you have _too much_ sex."

"What's this about condoms and sex?" Andy had joined us too on the landing.

"Nothing" I said quickly, just as Sleepy and Dopey said together "Suze has been sleeping with Jesse."

That's when my mom decided it would be a good time to come up to see what all the fuss was all about.

"Suze has been _what?"_ They said in unison.

"I MOST CERTAINLY HAVE NOT!" I exploded, still very red in the face.

"Yes you have. That's what you told me." Dopey said, clearly enjoying himself.

"No it's not. I didn't tell you anything because I didn't feel it was any of your business."

Dopey looked as if I'd just punched him in the stomach. Ha, take that. Next time, try harder to humiliate me. He looked crestfallen, and went "Oh. Well… if that's the case…" while starting down the hall way towards his room.

Doc started backing away, into his own room, and Jake made his way downstairs, leaving me alone with Andy and Mom. "Suze…" my mom started to say.

"I have not been having sex with Jesse." I said. "Do – what's-his-face… (A/N: ah! Memory loss! What's his name…? Jake… no… David… Daniel… something with a B… Benjamin… no… BRAD! THAT'S IT! BRAD!) Brad's just trying to get me into awkward situations, such as this one.

"Suze, I can understand that at your age, you are curious about sex. That's why they make porn movies. But if you ever need to talk to someone, you know we're always here to help."

Okay, you know what? I take that back, about Dopey trying harder to humiliate me. This was completely _embarrassing_.

"No. It's okay. Thank you anyways. But I have not been sleeping with Jesse."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. But if you do, don't forget -"

Oh great. The whole condom thing again. Hello? I go to _school_ you know. We have health class there. And I have learnt quite a lot from movies as well.

"– to use a condom. Yes mom, I know. Now will you leave me alone so I can do my homework?"

Apparently satisfied, they left, leaving me alone on the landing.

I heard the sound of paws hitting the roof. That was strange. Spike usually never came down unless Jesse was here. Oh well. I entered my room and nearly screamed out loud.

"Jesus Christ." I said, flattening a hand to my chest. "I _hate_ it when you do that."

Jesse grinned in response. "I think I've gotten the hang of apparating."

I stared at him, wondering how long he'd been in here.

As if reading my mind, he said "about 10 minutes."

I stared at him in horror. Uh-oh. That probably means he heard the whole conversation out in the hall way and… I didn't want to think about it.

"Uh… yeah… that means you probably heard everything, right? Sorry. Blame it all on Dopey. It's _his _fault."

Jesse chuckled. "Are you ready packing?"

"Um… no not exactly. I haven't started yet."

"Oh… okay. I just stopped by to tell you that there's been a change of plan. Paul decided it would be safer to get to the airport earlier, so we don't miss our flight in case something goes wrong. So we'll be here at midnight. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything else?"

"No, I don't think so. I got to get going though. Bye."

He started fading away.

"Oh, gee, thanks."

He became solid again.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't even get a good bye kiss?" I pouted.

Jesse grinned. "Sorry querida. I'm scared that if I kiss you, it might turn out into another one of those mini make our sessions, and that might not be very handy, what with everyone being able to come in at the wrong moment."

He started fading again, became solid again, grabbed me by the waist and kissed me roughly on the lips, for about 5 breathtaking seconds, before disappearing again, this time with a grin on his face. I grinned back. Pink lipstick really didn't suit Jesse at all.

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**(A/N: I know… very pointless… I feel un-inspired… all my creative talent is going down the drain as the exams approach… and I really need to study maths. Unlike Suze, I don't have a hot and extremely devoted boyfriend who can explain to me how to understand trigonometry and everything else we have covered this year in maths. And unlike Suze, I don't have enough brain capacity. Okay, enough with this self pity. Please review!)**


	20. ITALY, HERE WE COME

**IMPORTANT:**

**IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTED IN THIS STORY, I HAVE A NEW ACCOUNT: WHERE MY NAME IS MMXMX. PLEASE READ THE REST OF THE STORY THERE. **

CHAPTER 19

ITALY, HERE WE COME

Midnight. Midnight and a minute. Midnight and two minutes. Midnight and three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine minutes.

I wrapped my coat tighter around me, wishing they'd hurry up. Finally a car rounded the corner, and made its way down towards where I was standing. I recognised the car. It was a silver BMW. Except, this time, not convertible. I wondered how many cars Paul owned.

"Four" he said, as he'd pulled up next to me, and wound down his window.

"Excuse me?"

"Four cars. Two silver BMWs, one convertible, one not, a Chevy and a land rover. Oh, and a mustang, but I never use it."

"You could donate it to me?" I suggested, hopefully.

He laughed. "Maybe when we get back from Rome."

I grinned back, figuring he was kidding.

Jesse got out the back seat, and helped me lift my luggage into the trunk.

"Whoa. How much stuff did you bring?"

"Not that much. You know; the necessary."

"Susannah, you brought four bags. We are only going away for a week."

"Well, I was going to bring six, but managed to fit everything in four." I smiled proudly, but Jesse only rolled his eyes, and opened the car door for me.

I scrambled in – careful for the leather, as Paul pointed out, and sat back, resting my head in my hand. The nearest airport was an hour away, so I figured I might be able to sleep a while, before embarking onto the plane that would take us half way across the world to Rome. I soon figured out though, that Jesse was way more comfortable than my hand.

I snuggled closer to him, enjoying the feel of his arm around my shoulder. He was stroking my hair, and I closed my eyes, starting to feel drowsy.

"Susannah." I felt someone shaking me gently. I opened my eyes and rubbed them.

"Wha…?" I asked sleepily.

"We're here."

I sat up so quickly I nearly hit my head on the ceiling. I got out the car, pointedly ignoring Paul, who you could tell was trying very hard not to laugh, and failing miserably.

Jesse and Paul wheeled our luggage onto those little wheelie thingies, and made their way towards that place where they check your tickets, me trudging along behind them, still feeling half asleep. It took 20 minutes before it was finally our go, and then we had to go check our luggage in, which also took us another 20 minutes. By that time, my feet were sore, and I was dieing to go to the bathroom. Finally we made it through the metal detectors, past the whining little kids, and to the waiting area, where I nearly wet my pants looking for a bathroom.

10 minutes later, we were all sitting down at a little round table, all clutching a coffee.

"Thank God for caffeine," Paul sighed, as he set his now empty mug down. I silently agreed with him.

"When's our flight?" I asked, trying not to sound nervous.

Paul checked his watch. An original Rolex. "We still have half an hour."

I stood up. "Good. Be right back."

"What?" Paul asked. "Suze! Suze wait! Where're you going?"

But I was already long gone. I dashed round the corner, found the store I had seen a couple minutes ago, and bought all the interesting English magazines I could find. A couple minutes later I re-emerged at the table, clutching _Vogue, Cosmo, Cosmo Girl, Elle, Bliss, Sugar, Teen ink, Dolly _and _Teen Vogue_.

Jesse and Paul stared.

"What?" I asked defensively. "It's a really long flight."

Jesse chose to say nothing and Paul rolled his eyes. I didn't understand what the big deal was. I just bought a couple magazines. Who cares? And yeah, okay, I had 8, but I get bored easily. Take a look at my maths work book for proof.

Paul checked his watch again, and stood up.

"We'd better get going."

Grabbing our stuff (I'd managed to sneak the heaviest magazines into Paul's bag while he wasn't looking); we paid for our coffees, and set off to catch our plane. Obviously there were already a million and three people at the ticket barrier – I swear, I'm jinxed. I never get any luck - and we wasted another 10 minutes shuffling up the line in silence.

Anyway, we finally got on the plane, and everything went pretty well, even though Paul wouldn't let me have the window seat.

The night wore on slowly, and I stayed up half of it, not being able to sleep. When we finally arrived about 12 hours later, I was exhausted and extremely happy to get to the hotel, slip into my pyjamas and crawl into bed, only to wake up the following morning at 10am, snuggled against Jesse's chest and in an exceptionally good mood.


	21. UNTITLED 2

FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE READING THIS ON ETERNAL IMMORTALITY: I WILL STOP POSTING THERE. IF YOU WANT TO READ ON, GO TO MMXMX. Thank you.

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"Mmmm." I mumbled sleepily, snuggling closer to the source of heat, which woke up with a yelp, as I accidentally elbowed it in the ribs.

"Ah! Jesse I'm so sorry!" I gasped, as he sat up, massaging his ribs painfully.

"It's fine." He said, grimacing and attempting a smile.

It was at that point that I became less panicked about the fact that I might have broken his ribs and we'd have to rush him to a hospital, and neither Paul nor I knew Italian, and Jesse could speak Spanish, but he'd probably be in too much pain to communicate, and Rachael was dead obviously, so she'd be no use either – to notice the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

I appraised him slowly, and I think he noticed if the fact that he suddenly smirked at me meant anything.

I rolled my eyes – a difficult feat when this exceptionally hot guy – not to mention your boyfriend – wasn't wearing a shirt, had a magnificent tanned 6 pack that you didn't see nearly as often as you hoped – and hopped out of bed, my bare feet hitting the wooden floor of the hotel room and looked over to where Paul and Rachael were sleeping. Kind of strange that Rachael could sleep seeing as how she wasn't exactly alive, but I've seen weirder stuff. Such as the fact that Paul was falling off the bed, and wearing pink flannel pyjama bottoms, and a white top with the words: Sleep tight written across in baby blue print.

Creeping across the room to my travelling bag, careful not to make any noise I took out my camera, crept back across the room to where Paul sat – or should I say, hung – sleeping, and snapped a picture.

"W-AAAHHH!"#THUMP# "Ow!"

I tried hard not to laugh, but when that failed, I promptly gave up grinning and burst into peals of laughter, which woke Rachael up with a start.

"Suze, honestly. You think me falling out of bed is that funny?" Paul asked sceptically, raising his eyebrows at me.

"No." I gasped. "But you wearing that-"I pointed at his outfit "is."

Paul looked down at himself, gave a start and cursed.

"I knew I shouldn't have let Mary pack."

"Mary?" Rachael inquired from the bed, a hurt look on her face.

"Yeah, Mary, the sort of 'maid slash helper person'."

Rachael's face relaxed, and I'm pretty sure Paul noticed, because he hopped back into the bed, and went: "Don't let us disturb your little romantic breakfast." With a sly grin on his face.

Jesse and I exchanged looks. "You hungry?"

"Starving."

Jesse laughed. "Come on then. How many pancakes do you two want?" Jesse asked, looking back at Paul and Rachael.

"Five for Paul."

"And two for Rachael." They answered for each other.

Which is how, 30 minutes later Jesse and I were feeding each other pieces of pancakes across the table from each other while drinking orange juice, making plans about what to visit in the afternoon.

"We've got to see the coliseum, but the fountain of Trevi is supposed to be one of the "must see" things too."

"There are supposed to be really interesting museums too-"Jesse tried, but I cut him off.

"NO WAY. We are NOT going to visit ANY museums. Those are boring. Besides, I want to go shopping."

Jesse looked at me humorously.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"You just remind me of someone."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't you dare say Maria. In case you don't remember she tried to KILL me before."

A sudden look of fear crossed Jesse's handsome features, and he reached out to stroke my cheek.

"I'd have never let her harm you querida." He whispered almost inaudibly. "But actually, I wasn't thinking of her. More along the lines of Kelly."

I let out a mock cry of rage and slapped him playfully.

Before I knew what was happening, Jesse had hold of my hand, twisted it so that I had to get off my chair and end up in a very contorted position where my face was almost touching the floor, Jesse still holding onto my twisted hand, and my elbow on the small of my back.

It sounds funny, but let me tell you, it hurt like hell.

"Oh no you don't," he whispered in my ear, and I could tell he was smiling. By the time I registered the words I found myself pinned against the wall, Jesse crushing me against it with his own body.

Looks like things had been given an interesting turn. I raised my eyebrows at him as he grinned down at me, and leaned back against the wall, trying to look un-fazed. I gave up rather quickly however when he leaned down, planting butterfly kisses on my lips, so quickly I never had time to kiss him back.

This was fine for about 5 seconds but I soon got frustrated. Throwing my arm around his neck, I grinned as his lips made contact with my own once more, this time for a considerable amount of time.

Jesse's hands slipped under my shirt and caressed my back, and I let him guide me over to the couch. My hands were tangled in his hair, his were being used to push up my t-shirt and I was in bliss world, until he suddenly pulled back.

I sighed. Jesse always did this when he thought we were going too far.

DAMN I thought.

"Sorry," he was apologising. ..Not AGAIN..

"Jesse,". I swear, he drives me NUTS sometimes "shut up and kiss me."

Except, instead of obliging, he pulled even further away and started pacing the room, muttering stuff in Spanish. I'm pretty sure I know how to say shit (mierda) in Spanish now. Yay. How far is that going to get me in life? Along with 'hasta la vista' 'querida' and 'piñata'.

"No es los años 80 más" he was muttering to himself. "Sin embargo ella puede ser que se sienta incómoda."

Sounded like he was having a two sided conversation with himself, that I decided to make a three sided convo.

"English please now."

Jesse ignored me which is not something I appreciated. I think he got the point when I stood in front of him, my arms crossed blocking his path. He stopped pacing and looked at me, saw I was glaring daggers at him and immediately apologised.

Not that that really helped until he decided to translate his little Spanish mutterings.

"Jesse," I said angrily, "stop thinking that. The only time I DO feel uncomfortable is when you STOP kissing me and it makes me think I did something wrong. So leave it alone. I. Like. It. Okay?"

Which started him off again. Thank God. At least, until Paul and Rachael decided to join us for breakfast, with an "Ew gross. Tell us when you're done. Wait no. don't bother. I've already lost my appetite," and disappeared into the bedroom once more.

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